“The Give Thanks Community Meal is all about feeding families in the community that may or may not have the opportunity to have a full-service Thanksgiving meal. It’s about feeding our kids. It’s a fun time and a great community event,” says Rod Mitchell, interim president of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County.

For the first time ever tonight, the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County will host their annual Give Thanks Community Meal at both Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County locations. This year’s dinners are free and open to anyone who wishes to attend.

“For the first time, we are doing a Thanksgiving dinner at both locations. For a lot of years, it used to just be held at our Boys and Girls Club location on Allied,” Mitchell tells Madison365. “Taft families would have to travel a bit. This year, we decided to be more community-based for both of the locations – Taft and Allied.”

On top of that, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County will be doing a kitchen remodel ribbon-cutting for the kitchen at the Taft St. location. Thanks to the generosity of anonymous donors, the Club recently completed a $200,000-plus kitchen renovation which will be unveiled at a special ribbon cutting/dedication event at 4 p.m.

“The Taft kitchen has been the only room in the entire Taft facility that we have never touched as far as for renovation and we’ve done a full renovation – over $200,000 in cost from an anonymous donor,” Mitchell says. “The ribbon cutting will also have a big surprise that we will keep secret until then.”

Speaking of big surprises, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County recently got one when Governor-elect Tony Evers came through the club the day after his big gubernatorial electoral victory over Gov. Scott Walker.

Rep.-elect Shelia Stubbs, Gov.-elect Tony Evers, and Lt. Gov.-elect Mandela Barnes chat with a young girl while visiting the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County the morning after the big election.

“It was really cool to have him at the club the next morning. He has shown a commitment to putting more funds in the budget for after-school programming and being the education person he wants to support kids getting quality after-school support,” Mitchell says. “He thought the Club was the ideal location for that considering what we do in school and out of school for our kids. So he wanted to come by and read to the kids and tour the facility and announce his support for after-school programming.”

Through a variety of programs, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County serves more than 7,500 young people throughout Dane County and help them to succeed in work, school and life. Tonight’s annual Give Thanks Community Meal is a chance to meet people involved with the Boys and Girls Club and learn about their work.

“There are a lot of community members that support the club and it gives them a chance to volunteer. We have 25 volunteers per site,” Mitchell says. “We’ll have some donated foods from both Hyvee and Metcalfe’s. Metcalfe’s is actually donating and cooking the turkeys.”

Mitchell adds that they are looking to feed upwards to 600 families tonight – 300 at each site. The Boys and Girls Clubs will not only be serving up a delicious meal sponsored by Group Health Cooperative and National Guardian Life Insurance, but they will be hosting fun activities for all such as a bouncey house, live music, free giveaways and more.

Food gets served at last year’s Boys and Girls Club Give Thanks Community Meal.

“Come on out. We’ll have good food, good fellowship with community members, volunteers and staff. We will have deejays at both locations,” Mitchell says. “It’s a great chance to see the facilities and get into the holiday spirit.

“It’s a great chance to give thanks, too” he adds. “Giving thanks for what you have; giving thanks for waking up healthy that morning and giving thanks for a great meal. There’s a lot of folks who can’t do that.”

Come out and join the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County for an evening of food, family, and fun for the Annual Thanksgiving Community Feast starting at 6:30 p.m.. For the first time ever, will be hosting a feast at BOTH of our clubs. Taft Boys & Girls Club is located at 2001 Taft St. and the Allied Family Center Boys & Girls Club is located at 4619 Jenewein Rd., Fitchburg.