A Thanksgiving tradition hits 24 years in Groton. Hundreds of Submarine Base School students enjoyed a home cooked meal prepared by Navy Veterans.
Some volunteers only know this style of thanksgiving, like Kenneth Beghul, who we met keeping time as the deep friers ripped through turkeys in prep for the sailor’s arrival.
“I was a kid so they were like, don’t touch the oil don’t touch the dangerous stuff,” Beghul said of his early years volunteering.
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He has been an annual helper since he was 11. He credits his dad for getting him out to the event in the first place.
“My family doesn’t plan anything on Thursday because we know where we are going to be,” he said.
The volunteers, many of whom are veterans, understand what it’s like to be away from family and friends on Thanksgiving. So, they run the show.
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Walking around the subbase vet’s facility, it’s clearly all hands-on deck preparing for students to arrive.
“Everywhere you go, you have people doing their piece,” organizers said on our tour.
The feast is bountiful, from turkey, to sides, even pie some say is as good as grandmas. The sailors stopping in from miles, even worlds away, all grateful.
“It’s really lovely, more than we expected because we thought it would be a more family-oriented tradition, we didn’t think there would be so many people out here helping,” said one sailor all the way from Australia.
“The food is excellent so far,” said Gage Borchardt from Wausau, Wisconsin.
He said though he isn’t home, he still feels like he is among family.
“It’s family away from family, we are all sailors here,” he added.
That camaraderie is what organizers say it’s all about. Well over 1,000 meals are served. Many in house, and plenty to go, or distributed to local first responders and others working the holiday.
“It’s a lot of food, but it’s a lot of fun, its hard work, and if it wasn’t for the volunteers, it wouldn’t be done,” said Steven Ricard, the man spearheading the operation.
He estimated in the last 24 years they have operated this year, somewhere around 25,000 meals have been served.
Some of those turkeys, under the supervision of Beghul. He noted there is nowhere he would rather be, each Thanksgiving.
“I am happy to be here, I love doing it, good people, made some friends here over the years, I couldn’t imagine it any other way,” he said.
