LOWER LAKE >> A free Thanksgiving potluck dinner is being offered to people who lost their homes in last August’s Clayton Fire that destroyed about 300 residences and many businesses in downtown Lower Lake.
The dinner is being offered by the Lake Street Lodge Distribution Center and will include turkey, pecan dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and gravy. Guests are encouraged to bring a side dish to share.
“I don’t expect more than 20 people but if everyone brings something, we’ll have plenty of food even if more people show up,” said Terri Larsen, director of the Lake Street Lodge Distribution Center at 8466 Lake St. in Lower Lake. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Larsen is hoping a local business or person will donate the two turkeys that are still needed. The Lodge’s telephone number is (707) 701-6029.
Suggested items for the potluck include cranberry sauce or relish, dinner rolls and butter or margarine and pies — pumpkin, pecan, apple and mince are welcome along with other pie and dessert types.
Non-food items that are needed include paper plates, utensils, including serving spoons, napkins and plastic drinking cups.
“A lot of Clayton Fire survivors may not have a kitchen or even a house to cook a Thanksgiving dinner in,” Larsen said. “Also, a lot of our own volunteers have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving. Besides, this will allow people to get to know some of the other survivors.”
The dinner is scheduled to be served from 2-7 p.m. The current weather forecast for Thanksgiving Day in Lake County is for mostly cloudy skies and high and low temperatures, respectively, of 57 and 41 degrees.
Turkeys and other food items will be cooked off-site and brought to the Lodge, Larsen said.
Larsen also expanded the original list of welcomed guests beyond just those who lost homes. “I’d like to keep it to Lower Lake residents, including people who did not lose their homes but were affected by the fire and who don’t want to spend Thanksgiving alone or with family,” she said Thursday.
The atmosphere of the Thanksgiving affair will be “joyful, I hope,” Larsen said.”I think new beginnings are coming. A lot of people are starting to look towards the future rather than the past.”
The fire center is also sponsoring a “wish list” for Clayton fire victims where they tell the center what they need and the center tries to find the item or items for them.
“It’s not a Christmas wish list because others are doing that,” Larsen said.
So far, the wish list includes a lot of common household items, including furniture and kitchen goods such as dishes, pots and pans, and utensils. “Anything for the kitchen is useful,” Larsen said.
A specific item on the wish list that needs a donor is fencing for dogs.
It also has several non-conventional wishes posted on its Facebook wish list, including the following: “Donations of medical cannabis for those who lost their crops, for personal use only, will be appreciated.”
Unfortunately, the center will not be able to fill this request since it is not a licensed medical marijuana dispensary.
The fire center is also continuing its food and pet supply pantries, both of which are in “desperate need of donations,” according to Larsen.
The pet pantry is in need of cat and dog food and cat litter. The people pantry is in dire need of packaged and canned goods, pasta, pasta sauces, canned tuna and salmon, boxed macaroni and cheese.
It is also currently out of traditional holiday food items, including packaged dressing, cans, jars and packages of gravy, canned sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and instant mashed potatoes for distribution to Clayton fire survivors.
The center has discontinued its free hot dinners due to a lack of interest. It also no longer carries general goods, household items, clothing and furniture for fire survivors other than the pet and food pantries and wish list.
