South Valley Community Helps Feed the Hungry

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A tradition of giving continues to grow in Lemoore. For the 15th year in a row, volunteers served hundreds of meals to people in need.

James Lohry is in the kitchen at the Lemoore Senior Center every Thanksgiving. He's the head chef, in charge of the big community dinner with roughly 2,500 people to feed.

"The kitchen is a little small so we have to hustle to get all the meals out, as you can see, other than that it's no problem," Lohry said.

He prepped the turkey and ham ahead of time to make sure the assembly line of holiday meals runs smoothly. Some of the meals were bagged for take-out and some for delivery. Bob Clement, a volunteer driver, delivered food to families before driving home for his own Thanksgiving meal.

Clement said, "people are appreciative and we're willing to help and make their day a little bit better for Thanksgiving."

The volunteers set up a buffet next door for anyone in need. Lency Cuevas was there with 14 family members - half of them were from Los Angeles, "we're really thankful because all the effort they put into and helping us by providing these meals to us all the time."

The appreciation makes it back to the kitchen. Lohry said it keeps him going and he's already looking forward to the next one, "there's always a lot of 'thank yous'... there's always a need so it feels good inside."

Volunteers also sent 300 meals to Avenal and 150 to Kettleman City. The kitchen is expected to be remodeled next year to help more people.