During a time when many people are spending Thanksgiving in smaller groups than usual, multiple Laramie businesses and organizations will be offering free meals to anyone looking for a full Thanksgiving feast. Devine Eats food truck will be serving hot, free meals to the public, the Laramie Soup Kitchen has a sign up service for free microwavable “Meals-To-Go,” and Walmart is offering free meals through the Ibotta app.
For information on each of these options, please visit the links below.
Devine Eats: https://www.facebook.com/events/285959312750045/
Laramie Soup Kitchen: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d49ada82ba6f8c43-thanksgiving
Linda Devine, a local attorney and the owner of the Devine Eats food truck, explains how her business is focused on bringing people together through food. “I wanted to find a way to serve the community outside my practice of law.”
Devine uses her food truck to raise money for different local agencies including the Downtown Clinic, Family Promise of Albany County, and Interfaith, as well as offering to hold campaign events for local political candidates.
Devine Eats will be providing free Thanksgiving meals for pickup on Thanksgiving Day from 11am to 2pm, and all meals will be served hot. “I wanted to have something that is warm and fresh that people can pick up,” Devine says.
“A lot of people aren’t going to have their normal Thanksgiving Day this year because of Covid, and some people aren’t going to want to make a big meal if there are only two or three people at their house.” Devine stresses that this meal is for all people, regardless of their needs. She recognizes that everyone is struggling with the holidays this year, and that many people are missing family and have made the decision to keep gatherings small.
Photo used with permission of Linda Devine
Donations of time, money, and space have been made to create this free meal for the community. The Crowbar has offered their kitchen to Devine Eats for the cooking aspect, and Coal Creek Coffee has supplied apple cider as a contribution to the meal.
“We have plenty of volunteers at this point,” Devine says. While volunteers are not needed, community members can donate to the meal through Venmo, more information on donating can be found on the Facebook event linked above. If donations exceed the cost of food, all donations will then be given to local non-profit food banks.
Photo used with permission of Linda Devine
In regard to Covid-19 precautions and food safety, Devine assures that “everybody will have masks and gloves. I am also limiting the amount of people cooking together at a time… We will follow all Covid standards in place at all times.”
Devine explains that her work with Devine Eats is rewarding and self-serving because of the impact it can have on creating community and bringing people together through food. “It’s a community, it’s just a way that people can come get a meal… I get back as much as I give.”
Visit the Devine Eats Facebook event for more information on the free Thanksgiving meals: https://www.facebook.com/events/285959312750045/