Thanksgiving Giving: West Brazos’ Turkey Day Gets Off to An Early Start at First Baptist Brazoria

West Brazos Photos

It’s Thanksgiving morning, and several West Brazos area volunteers are off to bed. Forgive them, please: they’ve been up all night smoking nearly 70 turkeys as part of a blessed meal-delivery operation we told you about on Nov. 22.

Before we get to some pictures of the late-night/early morning activity at First Baptist Church Brazoria, we figured we share this bit of awesomeness that Helen DeLaune, one of the event organizers, posted on Facebook:

You know it’s Thanksgiving eve when you set your alarm for 4:30. ?? 70+ Turkey’s are being smoked(at 4 locations), 300+ side dishes are being/have been cooked(by a tons of volunteers across many different churches, community, work places, etc.. you know, people BEING the church and over 400 people will be fed tomorrow a fully cooked Thanksgiving meal delivered to their home. BUT the most important thing in all of this is we get to share the love of Christ to His people! THAT is what makes all of this worth it! Loving on people.

Before: Volunteers started putting the turkeys on the pits at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. (And that means, yes, they stayed up all night tending to the goodness.)
After: By 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, the birds were done, wrapped in foil, and ready for volunteer delivery drivers to take them away for Thanksgiving meals all across Brazoria County.
And, to address a debate that seems to be getting traction on social media this year: the sides, for many, are the main event on the Thanksgiving menu. So, while the turkeys smoked, a whole other crew was up early Thursday in the First Baptist kitchen pouring their love into stuffing, mashed potatoes, casseroles and more.
This is just a few of the folks who helped prepare the sides.