GREENFIELD — Ty Hunt let out a cheer in the 4-H Exhibit Building at the Hancock County Fairgrounds on Thanksgiving morning.
A sea of volunteers cheered back. Lines of delivery drivers looped around the walls of the building and out the entrance. Apron-attired and ladle-wielding servers stood before steaming trays.
After months of planning and a week of food preparation, it was go time for the 14th annual Lisa Muegge Feast of Plenty. The endeavor prepared for a new record of about 2,300 Thanksgiving meals this year, all to be delivered or enjoyed in the exhibit hall.
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Hunt, who leads the feast’s cooking efforts, said this year’s stock included 129 turkeys, 16 six-can cases of green beans and more than 300 pies. Meals were up by about 500 from last year, he continued, adding about 500 volunteers served throughout the day.
“We are so blessed,” Hunt told the Daily Reporter. “We’re surrounded by a community that pours out all sorts of love for this, and there’s just people that need to know that they’re cared about.”
Hunt brings his culinary skills to the feast that he also uses in his profession as director of nutritional services at Hancock Regional Hospital.
“I’ve been given gifts by the Lord, and this is my one way I can use those to help others,” he said. “It’s a long day, it’s a long prep-up for it, but man, you see smiles and you see people getting along and there’s not strife and there’s not drama, there’s just people helping other people, and that’s a good thing.”
Beginning around 10 a.m., the first two hours of the event were spent getting about 1,400 meals ready and out the door for delivery, many of which also included bags filled with groceries.
Addressing volunteers before serving started, Hunt said their efforts would reach every county touching Hancock County. Deliveries were slated for as far north as Michigan Road in Indianapolis, he said. The Feast of Plenty also connected with the Healthy Families Indiana initiative through the Indiana Department of Child Services this year, a connection Hunt anticipates continuing into the future.
“Today, you are the light in a lot of people’s lives,” he told the volunteers. “There’s a need out there and we’re going to try to fill that need today.”
Lisa Muegge started the event in 2005, and it was named after her following her death in 2016.
Jeff Muegge, Lisa’s widower, said the feast has grown significantly since its first year, which served about 150 meals.
“I think the part that’s amazing to me is right out here, is all these volunteers,” he told the Daily Reporter, referring to the mass of servers and delivery drivers. “People show up year after year… This community, it’s such a giving community. We’re blessed to be here.”
He’s sure Lisa would feel the same.
“She’s a part of this today,” he said. “I know she is, and she’s just so excited to see the way it’s grown.”
Janelle Burkhart, meal coordinator for the Feast of Plenty, said the outreach has God’s “hand print all over it.”
“That’s what keeps me coming back,” she said. “It’s a beautiful way to be the hands and feet of Christ.”
Julie Lewis, who also helps organize the feast, said almost as many deliveries were going to Indianapolis Thursday as Hancock County.
“Every year it gets bigger,” she said. “There’s just a big need.”
As volunteers hauled heaps of food and gallons of gravy out of the kitchen, an apron-wearing Cathy Matthews stood by, getting ready to serve. She’s been volunteering with the feast for about 12 years, and Lisa Muegge was a good friend.
“She was an awesome lady, and she had this vision, she started it, and it’s just been awesome how people have just gravitated and showed up to help and volunteered,” Matthews said. “…It’s grown and grown and grown. It’s just a blessing to be able to come out here on Thanksgiving Day and give back.”
