Julie Beck, Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly lead volunteer at the 2023 Thanksgiving dinner in Houghton, leads a toast at the end of the meal. Little Brothers is offering seven sitdown sites and meal delivery sites throughout the Copper Country and Marquette. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — Meals and holidays are meant to be shared, said Carol Korpela. 

“To prepare a meal for one person, yourself, if you’re alone on the holiday, it can even just make that isolation and loneliness feel even worse,” said Korpela, executive director of Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly in Hancock. “And so we want to celebrate with our community.”

Little Brothers is extending that fellowship throughout the Western Upper Peninsula through sitdown meals and home deliveries on Thanksgiving. 

It includes about 1,000 elders who will receive meals throughout the day, either at a meal site or at home, Korpela said. But it also includes the hundreds of volunteers, local restaurants helping with dishes such as pumpkin pie, small businesses healing with food and donations.  

“It’s a community affair,” she said. “Nobody has to be alone during the holiday.”

Adults 60 or older are invited to the meals. Transportation will be provided if needed. Reservations are required; to register, they can call Little Brothers at 906-482-6944.

It takes at least 350 volunteers between the 10 sit-down and meal sites, Korpela said; “400 would be ideal.” 

To register, volunteers can go to Little Brothers’ new website at lbfemichigan.org, which has a form showing where remaining help is needed. As of Monday, there were still slots open — especially in meal delivery, and in outlying areas. 

“The Houghton/Hancock area fills up quickly with both guest reservations and volunteers, so those are mostly set,” Korpela said. “If any volunteer goes to our website or calls us, they can get our most up-to-date needs.”

The traditional meal — turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and more — comes with a twist this year. Working with Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, LBFE is swapping out the usual sweet potatoes in favor of butternut squash. 

“We’ve been partnering with the Copper Shores Meals on Wheels, and they’ve been able to help us with purchasing and working with farmers,” she said. “So this is something that just adds a little variety to our menu, and it’s very favorable.”

The sit-down dinners are being held at seven sites: St. Ann’s Church in Baraga, Sacred Heart Church in Calumet, Church of the Resurrection in Hancock, St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church  in Houghton, the Elks Lodge in Marquette, Holy Family Catholic Church in Ontonagon and Doelle Senior Center in Tapiola. 

Doors open at 12:30 p.m., and the meal is served at 1. 

Volunteers are also needed for seven meal delivery sites. Volunteer pickup begins at 11:45 a.m. for the meals, which go out between noon and 2 p.m. 

Those meals will be distributed from St. Ann’s in Baraga; Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium & Keweenaw in Calumet; Grace United Methodist Church in Houghton; Holy Family in Ontonagon; Grace Lutheran Church in South Range; Doelle in Tapiola; and the Elks in Marquette. 

For the elders who cannot come to the dine-in meal, volunteers will deliver a complete Thanksgiving meal, delivered in a festive bag with a party favor and a flower. 

“It’s the one that requires the most volunteers, because we ask that when volunteers deliver that meal, they don’t just drop it off,” Korpela said. “We ask, ‘Hey, can you please stay a little while?’ Because they may be the elder’s only visitor on that holiday.”

The meals are one of many community programs LBFE provides during the year, Korpela said, which also include home visits, medical transportation, and more. Hancock’s chapter is the only rural chapter of the national organization, and the only one that provides home firewood. 

“We had our first good snowfall today, and it’s just a reminder that our long, cold winter is coming, and this is a way that we’re able to make sure that our elderly friends stay warm,” she said.