GREENFIELD — Some people say 13 is an unlucky number. But Ty Hunt doesn’t believe it.
Standing on a folding chair, looking out over the line of hundreds of volunteers that snaked its way around the exhibit hall at the fairgrounds, Hunt told those gathered that the 13th annual Feast of Plenty has been by far the luckiest.
The biggest, most far-reaching feast to date.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryOrganizers and volunteers made enough food to feed at least 2,000 people during the annual Thanksgiving Day outreach.
They knew heading in that at least 1,400 people would get warm turkey dinners delivered to their front door Thursday. That’s the number of deliveries organizers scheduled ahead of time — the most they’ve had since the feast’s founder, the late Lisa Muegge, first had the idea to feed anyone on Thanksgiving Day who might not have anywhere else to go.
But it doesn’t include the walk-ins or the last-minute orders they might get throughout the day. They were expecting a few hundred of those.
The deliveries — for the first time — spanned seven counties, Hunt told the crowd of volunteers before giving a prayer to kick off the annual outreach.
The pronouncement brought an audible gasp from those gathered.
“I know,” Hunt responded with a chuckle. “It made my eyes bug out, too.”
But organizers of the feast — formally named the Lisa Muegge Feast of Plenty Community Outreach — felt a calling to reach outside Hancock County this year, Hunt said.
So, as part of their planning, they contacted organizations and community centers in Knightstown, New Castle, Rushville and other surrounding areas. They made plans to deliver meals to people in need in those locations as well as their usual stops in Hancock County.
That’s what Muegge would have wanted, after all. Muegge had the idea to pack the exhibit hall at the Hancock County 4-H Fairgrounds with people, to provide a dinner for anyone who might otherwise go without.
She pulled together a few friends to bring the idea to fruition, and for a decade they worked together to spread joy on Thanksgiving Day.
Muegge died unexpectedly in 2016, but her mission lived on. And grew, reaching more doorsteps, filling more bellies, attracting more helpers.
Some 400 volunteers turned up Thursday morning to help package the meals and send them out for delivery.
So many faces in the crowd were familiar, as many of the volunteers returned to the fairgrounds as they do every year to be part of the outreach, to give back in some way on this day to give thanks.
Janelle Burkhart, who helps organize the event every year, posts herself at a table near the front door, checking in volunteers, handing out assignments and answering questions. She was there again Thursday, serving, in a way, as the feast’s traffic cop, with a bright smile on her face, her voice cheerful and welcoming.
Jeff Muegge, husband to the feast’s late founder, was there again with his sons, scurrying around and helping with whatever task needed an extra set of hands at that moment.
Among the throng also was Bella Witte, the Eastern Hancock High School sophomore who spent months raising 13 turkeys on her family’s farm to donate them to the feast. Thursday, she waited in line with the rest of the volunteers, shuffling forward slowly toward the buffet line with a Styrofoam box in her hand and a grin on her face.
Across the room, there was a group of young girls, handing out packages of pumpkin and fruit pies — the desserts that accompany each meal.
They call themselves “the pie crew,” Katie Muegge, Kalyn Moss and Olivia Roberts joked.
Every year, they come to the fairgrounds on Wednesday and cut and package the slices. On Thursday morning, they return and take charge of boxing up the packages and handing them out to the delivery drivers. They’re a well-oiled machine, and they love taking on this task year after year, the girls said.
That’s part of what makes the Feast of Plenty special, Hunt said. Every one of the volunteers feels a sense of ownership and pride with the feast.
In his prayer Thursday morning, he thanked God for those people, those volunteers who make the mission a reality.
“Bless this food and all the hands that have been part of making it,” he said. “Thank you for making this what our community is about.”