Employees of Plymouth Place Senior Living in La Grange Park could get a head start on their Thanksgiving meal with the delivery Friday of frozen turkeys and pumpkin pie to the staff at the retirement community.
“The Thanksgiving meal is the capstone to our Plymouth Place Pantry,” which was started in March as a way to show appreciation for the staff who were working under the stress of the pandemic, said Kate Curran, senior director of communications and marketing.
Once a week since March 23, the employees were invited to pick up a bag of groceries, toiletries or paper products to take home.
“It started with the board of directors who donated the money (for the items) and then we solicited donations,” Curran said.
Plymouth Place officials wanted to lighten the load on the employees by sparing them a trip to the grocery store after a long shift, she said. Residents, their families and other community members supported the pantry.
Some weeks there was a theme to the meal, such as pancakes.
“We gave them pancake mix, syrup and fresh blueberries,” Curran said.
Residents helped pack the bags, she said. When the donations ran out, the Plymouth Place organization funded the pantry to show their appreciation for their “frontline heroes.”
For Thanksgiving, an anonymous donor helped pay the cost of the 275 turkeys that were handed out all day Friday from a refrigerated food service truck parked at the senior complex, at 315 N. La Grange Road. Along with the birds, that weighed from 12 to 14 pounds, employees received a pumpkin pie and assorted produce for side dishes.
