SYRACUSE, N.Y. — With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, food preparation is in full swing at the Rescue Mission Alliance on Gifford Street. More than 100 turkeys are cooked, cut and deboned months before the fourth Thursday in November.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on,” Aaron Hayes, cook at the Rescue Mission, said. “(On thanksgiving) we start in the morning, around 3 o ‘clock and work in shifts.”
The Rescue Mission Alliance expects to feed around 300 people at the facility and an additional 1,900 through takeout orders according to Karl Dawkins, director of food services.
In order to fulfill those orders, the Rescue Mission Alliance needs all hands on deck. Alongside cook Aaron Hayes, there are also plenty of volunteers helping through a culinary partnership with the Syracuse City School District.
“We work with different individuals with disabilities of different sort,” Ed Phelan, culinary instructor at the Rescue Mission, said.
The students work five days a week at the Rescue Mission, helping with anything from everyday meal prep to Thanksgiving cooking.
“The course is more than teaching them how to do food services,” Phelan said. “But it’s also working on their behavior.”
The Rescue Mission Alliance is located on 155 Gifford Street. Dawkins says that the center expects to serve meals until around 2:30-3:00 on November 22, Thanksgiving day. All meals are free.
