For six years in a row, Donelson Cafe & Catering extended the communal spirit of Thanksgiving dinner tradition to the larger Nashville community — crucially, to its homeless citizens, who may not have a table to dine at otherwise.
The seventh annual Truly Thankful Thanksgiving was held on Nov. 23 at FiftyForward Donelson Station, and featured conventional holiday fare — turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and so on — free for anyone to come and enjoy.
“We started it for those around us who might not have a plate or a place to go for Thanksgiving; and it has not only grown into a way for us to feed those folks, but it’s also turned into a community-type celebration,” said Mark Dickerson, owner of Donelson Cafe & Catering.
The event’s conception was a spur-of-the-moment decision with limited reach. Dickerson and his partner, Kevin Miehlke, were sharing an empty nest — and consequently, a quieter holiday than they had grown accustomed to.
“We have two sons that had recently moved away from home, and we were thinking, ‘Well, we’re spending Thanksgiving by ourselves this year. Let’s do a turkey,’” explained Dickerson. “We didn’t want to dirty the kitchen up at the house, so we thought we’d go down to the cafe, and we’d just put it on Facebook. Anybody that doesn’t have a place to go, come on by and eat with us. That first year we had about 100 people show up.”
Dickerson and Miehlke are no strangers to altruistic cooking; beyond their typical catering services, they also will bring nearby community members in need one hot meal a day on weekdays. But this was a chance to make a celebration of it all and invite the community to come to them.
“That year, I was surprised, they took the food that was leftover to places that people were working for the holiday, and [to the homeless],” recalled Evelyn Cutler, an annual attendee and volunteer at the dinners. “Kevin’s cooking is fantastic, he used to be an Opryland chef. So his cooking, you can’t compete with it.”
For Dickerson and Miehlke, ambitions for the event started humble. But it quickly turned from an isolated act of goodwill to a tradition made possible by dozens of volunteers and a deluge of food donations.
“We didn’t want to sit home and do nothing,” said Dickerson. “The kids were gone, we just wanted to share a little bit of fellowship that day and in turn, maybe feed a couple of people that didn’t have a plate of food. Each year it has just grown.”
And that growth has been consistent with each passing holiday. Six years and an abundance of turkeys later, 2023’s event had an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 guests, including live entertainment, a drive-thru line snaking around the venue and a visit from Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
“I think this is the first I’ve seen a mayor come in and actually be a part of a celebration like that,” Cutler said. “That was pretty neat. He was on the assembly line helping with some things … it’s nice to see a politician doing something on the line!”
Cutler said a crucial aspect of the annual dinners was their accessibility — after all, there is a finite number of places in Nashville where everyone is truly welcome and catered to.
“The homeless in this area, they’re kind of like hidden people in a way. And it’s sad,” she said. “A lot of times they’ll come in through the side, the drive-thru area, to pick up the food. Mark will kind of tell you, ‘Be aware of them. Make sure they get their food.’ Last year they ran out of food, and he was calling around to get extra food … they’ll do anything they can to get that person the meal. You never know who’s coming through that line.”
As for this year’s dinner in particular, Dickerson recalls it with gratitude, elation, and excitement for the future.
“It was a huge day, it started off heavy and it never really stopped,” said Dickerson. “It’s like, ‘Wow, did we really do this again?’ Part of the amazement comes from the gratitude we feel being able to put all that together and have it work so seamlessly.”
“We’re happy, pleased that it’s all over, and already talking about next year!”