Local family hosts 2nd community Thanksgiving meal
Robbinsville – Even in the midst of a global pandemic, a local woman and her family are doing their part to ensure that anyone needing a hot meal and a place to go on Thanksgiving has both.
For the second year, Tracy Bradley will host a community Thanksgiving meal out of her home at 41 Snider Circle. Last year’s meal brought approximately 50 people into the home, but due to the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic, even more are expected to come this year.
“There’s such a need in our community,” Bradley said. “We’ve got a lot of hunger, especially here in 2020. It’s been worse this year than it was last year. “We’re a Christian family, and we are called to feed the less fortunate, called to help out where we’re needed.”
Bradley said she provided support to many in the Snider Circle community year-round.
“We’ve got a little community here that we feed on a daily basis, and a whole church on Sundays,” she said. “I’ve doubled my food amount.”
She said all of those involved would be taking extra precautions due to COVID-19, with only a few at a time allowed to come through the food line in the house, and no self service allowed. Those involved in preparing and serving the food will also be required to wear a mask and gloves.
“It’ll be clean,” Bradley said. “It’ll be safe. I am requiring everyone who comes through the food area to wear a mask. I will have them available at the door if they don’t have one, but they’re going to wear a mask if they come through.”
She said some people in the community would be helping to prepare and serve the food, with neighbors contributing side dishes and at least five volunteering to help in the kitchen.
Bradley’s daughter, Brandi Oocumma, will be among those helping, as will be another daughter who will travel from Cherokee.
“We actually debated on doing it this year,” Bradley said. “We weren’t going to, and God just really opened the door and sent messages to both of us that we are meant to do it.
“As we sit here in 2020, there’s never been a greater need for it. In this area, what you’ll find is that we have a lot of homeless. We have a lot of addicts and those are things that my husband and I try to work with on a daily basis. My home is constantly open if anybody needs a place to hang out for a little while, get warm, have a cup of coffee, whatever.”
Bradley said at least three, possibly four turkeys would be cooked, along with two hams and myriad side dishes.
The feast will also include some traditional Cherokee dishes including bean bread, fried chicken, fatback and cabbage.
“Last year, it was literally just us cooking,” Oocumma said. “We have her husband, my grandfather. We have some of the guys around Snider who would set up and serve plates.”
She said some of the children and youth in the community helped out by delivering to-go plates to first responders, Ingles supermarket employees and others who were working on Thanksgiving Day.
“This year, our children have decreased some, but we have our children that will help serve. This year, we’ve got at least a good five extra helping hands in the kitchen, and we’ll have extra hands serving as well,” Oocumma said.
Oocumma also explained the importance of the meal to the community and to her family, again mentioning the family’s Christian faith.
“(Bradley) is a God-fearing woman,” Oocumma said. “She’s not perfect by any means, and anybody that knows her and knows her history knows this, but in the last year-and-a-half to two years, her ministry has been food. It sounds like such a simple ministry, but one thing that I think personally that I feel is if you feed somebody, you open that door for so much because when they’re not hungry they’re not thinking about their addiction. They’re not thinking where to get their next fix. They’re not thinking about the less fortunate, like ‘OK, I don’t have to sit here and stress about the next few hours because I am full and I am content.’”
The family plans to start serving at approximately 2 p.m. today. For more information, Bradley can be reached at (828) 735-6916. Oocumma can be reached at (828) 283-1920.
“Last year, we started about 7 O’clock Wednesday morning, and we were going until Thursday night,” Bradley said with a laugh. “I’m putting the word out there that nobody better ask me for anything on Friday. I’ll be resting.”