For those who may not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving in the most traditional way, an Arlington organization is providing meals to local residents that may be disadvantaged. 

Beginning thirty-seven years ago, the Knights of Columbus has served Thanksgiving meals for more than 3,000 “disadvantaged neighbors.” Kate Gilchrist McMorrow, whose husband Myles McMorrow is chairing the Arlington Knights of Columbus Thanksgiving initiative, said the organization focuses a lot on “charity and community.” She and her husband have been in charge of handling the giving of meals during Thanksgiving since the pandemic in 2020. 

“I had no idea what a massive production it is,” McMorrow said. 

McMorrow stated she has tried to grow the giving of Thanksgiving meals, which used to have the Knights of Columbus borrow buses and provide transportation for homeless citizens to the main hall of the organization to sit down and be able to have a warm meal. This stopped due to the pandemic, but McMorrow said she’s found that it’s easier to serve more people by delivering meals to people individually. 

Knights of Columbus has partnered with Meals on Wheels of Arlington to expand the delivery of the Thanksgiving meals, since Knights of Columbus has the facilities to be able to cook all of the food and provide it to various local counties. This year, 140 turkeys have been purchased by the organization and on Thanksgiving morning, members of the Knights of Columbus will begin making stuffing, mashed potatoes and more to be packaged along with the turkey. At 8:00 a.m., the meals will be delivered to apartment buildings, homeless shelters and other places by 80 volunteer drivers. 

One of the local residents receiving a meal from the Knights of Columbus is Cynthia, who prefers to not share her last name. Cynthia said she was connected to Meals on Wheels of Arlington after a knee fracture a month ago limited her ability to make meals on her own. Since Meals on Wheels is partnering with Knights of Columbus this Thanksgiving, Cynthia will be one of thousands citizens receiving a warm meal. 

As for what Knights of Columbus wants to accomplish for this year’s Thanksgiving, McMorrow said the goal is to “love other people” and feeding is “the way we know how to do it.” Last year, the organization served around 2,500 meals and McMorrow stated she hopes the Knights of Columbus will “continue to grow” since there’s “so much need” for it.