A lot of our neighbors are facing challenging times this holiday season. If you want to get involved and spread some holiday cheer around town this Thanksgiving, here are some events and volunteer opportunities to help you pay it forward.
Thanksgiving at Food & Friends
Food & Friends has a goal to home-deliver more than 4,600 holiday meals to neighbors battling serious illnesses. You can help this community organization in Northeast DC prep, package, or deliver medically-tailored roasted turkeys, dressing, pie, and other Thanksgiving favorites to a household in need by signing up for a kitchen volunteer shift or joining the delivery driver team (free, but registration required).
Thanksgiving Food Drive
Central Union Mission has long been a neighborhood beacon for men, women, and families in need of year-round hot meals, medical care, shelter, and job training. For Thanksgiving, the organization is hosting a celebration lunch and bingo game for locals affected by poverty. You can support the November 26 event by donating items such as frozen turkeys and chickens, rice, beans, and canned vegetables ahead of the celebration (donations to be dropped off in Northeast DC through November 21).
Everything but the Turkey
Since the ’90s, hundreds of volunteers have joined together to assist the Edlavitch DCJCC and DC Central Kitchen with preparing Thanksgiving dishes for community members experiencing food insecurity and homelessness. Volunteers can sign up to cook or bake collard greens, yams, coleslaw, apple crumble, and other side dishes for DC-area neighbors to feast on. If you’d prefer not to cook, you can help sanitize utensils and measure spices ($22, but registration required).
Holiday Helpings With Bread for the City
The Holiday Helpings giveaway at Bread for the City supports thousands of families each year. Holiday turkeys, chickens, fresh groceries, and Latin and East Asian food options will be distributed at the nonprofit’s centers in Northwest and Southeast DC through November 25. If you’d like to get involved, you can make a financial contribution ($100 will provide a family of four with a holiday meal kit).
Turkey Chase Charity Race
Runners and walkers can race through Bethesda for a great cause. The Turkey Chase Charity Run is an annual fundraiser where participants can pace through a 10K trail or 2-mile course—there are virtual options for swimming and bike riding, too—to help raise proceeds for the YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase and the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rotary ($48+).
Safeway’s Feast of Sharing
The Salvation Army is requesting volunteers to help with this month’s Safeway Feast of Sharing. The annual dining event fills the Walter E. Washington Convention Center with hot meals, free health screenings, and live entertainment. You can sign up to be a kitchen aide, food preparer, language translator, clothing distribution aide, or post-event cleaner (free, but registration required).
Alexandria Turkey Trot
Race with your family (and your dog) through the Del Ray neighborhood for a good cause. The 50th Alexandria Turkey Trot welcomes walkers and runners to circle the holiday course beginning at 9 AM on Thanksgiving morning. Racers are encouraged to bring shelf-stable food items to donate to the Alexandria nonprofit ALIVE! ($30 for adults, $25 for ages 13 to 21, $15 for ages 12 and under).
America’s Trot for Hunger
Before you eat your Thanksgiving fill, join a 5K race to help raise funds for the DC nonprofit SOME (So Others Might Eat). The annual DC Trot for Hunger will kick off on Thanksgiving morning at Freedom Plaza, and continue virtually through November 30. At the end of the course there will be a best-dressed turkey competition for pets, and a family-friendly festival with music and activities. Children can walk or run in the Little Turkey 1-miler ($45 for virtual, $65 for in-person, $15 for child registration).
Arlington Turkey Trot
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Arlington’s early morning Thanksgiving Day trot. The starting line begins at 8 AM at Pershing Drive, and the course runs through the streets of Lyon Park and Ashton Heights. Race donations support Christ Church of Arlington’s work to serve county residents in need. Registered runners get a turkey trot T-shirt and timing bib ($50 for adults, $25 for ages 6 to 17, free for children 5 and under, registration closes November 24).
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Briana A. Thomas is a local journalist, historian, and tour guide who specializes in the research of D.C. history and culture. She is the author of the Black history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C., a story that was first published in Washingtonian in 2016.
