Area Restaurants Make Thanksgiving Dinner with Love for Head Start Students

The children at Day Head Start in north San Angelo enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast early this week with their families, a tradition the school has not celebrated for many years; however, thanks to several area restaurants and the vision of one parent, about 500 students, parents, grandparents and guardians spent Tuesday eating a feast made with love and blessings.

At noon Tuesday, families gathered in the head start’s cafeteria, gymnasium and classrooms, and the 274 students at the school had smiles on their faces as they enjoyed plates full of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, fresh hot rolls, stuffing, and of course, pumpkin pie.

Things were a bit hectic housing all the families and ensuring everyone, including the teachers, had a plate and drink, but despite the craziness, there was no doubt about the “thankfulness” and feelings of blessings in the air.

Kapris Muro, a parent who volunteers frequently for the school and who put the feast together, said, “We’re doing a feast to feed the children and their guardians here today. We have 500 people here right now throughout the school. It’s been a little chaotic, but it’s been a blessing. We had several restaurants in town really step up and go above and beyond to serve the food here today. Everything here was done by donations.”

Muro said 15 restaurants donated silverware, food, tea, and everything necessary to make the feast memorable, which she felt to be amazing for what it provided.

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“It’s been amazing to see all the smiling faces, and everybody just lightening up with their families to enjoy this,” Muro said.

Many of the parents and staff were also thankful to Muro for working so hard to put this event together.

Muro has three children who attend Day Head Start and is the vice president for the parent meetings. At the beginning of October, she said she wanted to have a family feast where no one would have to worry about getting the food. She wanted them to just come and enjoy themselves with their children.

Above: Kapris Muro, who works hard to ensure all classrooms get their feast, gets her own thanks from the school. (LIVE! Photo/Brandy Ramirez)

“Some people thought I was crazy,” Muro recalled. However, when she started putting plans into action and people noticed how much work she was doing, a few people came forward and told her they would help.

“With the grace of God, we got all this food and all these volunteers who are all parents and came around to be involved; it’s just awesome. It’s awesome how they stepped up and played a role in putting this together,” Muro stated.

Muro said she originally contacted the restaurants personally, and none of them hesitated to assist.

“Everybody I have spoken to has been wonderfully nice,” Muro said. The mother added that all the mashed potatoes, green beans, and six turkeys came from Cheddar’s Casual Cafe.

“They don’t even serve turkeys, and I thought that was amazing. Golden Corral also cooked turkeys,” Muro noted.

Logan’s Roadhouse cooked all the rolls. Zentner’s Daughter donated the ice and individual cranberry packets. The 333 Restaurant also cooked enough stuffing for all the people, and the manager said it was “cooked with love.”

Everything donated brought happiness to everyone who attended the feast.

“I love to see how much they’re interacting with each other and spending time together; and they just get to sit down, enjoy the presence of their families and enjoy a great meal together,” Muro said.

Muro also said she hopes Tuesday’s feast is an eye opener for everyone on Thanksgiving and brings warmth to their hearts.

“People are just so caught up in their own lives, and it’s time to stop, take a breath and thank the Lord and everybody around you, for having one another and everything you need; because without each other and our families, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Muro stated.

Shae Hollis, principal of Day Head Start and who has been with the program since 1998, said she thought what Muro did to put the feast together, and the turnout, a blessing.

“We haven’t had a [Thanksgiving feast] here,” she said. “They’ve had it at the other centers, but it’s because we didn’t have a lot of parent participation. So when [parents] decided they wanted to put it together, we thought it was great.”

Hollis added that the event also tied together the social, emotional and cognitive elements important to student learning.

“We’re about family dining here at the center,” she said. “That’s just part of the Head Start program, so seeing it incorporated brings it all out. The parents are excited about it. The kiddos are happy.”

Hollis also referred to Muro as a “miracle worker” for putting the feast together.

“She did a wonderful job,” she stated.

One volunteer, Jessica Garcia, said her daughter, Allie, has attended Day for two years, and she decided to volunteer because of the teachers.

“They spend more time with them than I do because I work so much,” she said. “I wanted to give back to them. It shows that we’re giving back. We can’t do as much as they do because they do so on a daily basis, but we’re giving what we can.”

General Manager for Cheddar’s Sheryl Callahan said she decided to help after resident Kay Hickey, who also volunteered at the feast and who is a regular at Cheddar’s, brought the event to the staff’s attention and asked for help. Callahan started with the restaurant in February and said she wanted to be a part of it because, in all the different places she’s been, she’s done a lot of work for holiday events, including Toys for Tots.

“I think those kind of things bring a lot to every community,” Callahan said. “It helps children who may not get to have a great holiday. It’s very rewarding for those kinds of associations.”

Additionally, with her family being so far away in Michigan, she understands how important it is for families to be together during the holidays. She said it touches her heart to be able to give to these children and their parents so they can have that dinner with their kids.

“Maybe they were wondering in their minds how they were going to provide that,” Callahan said about the families. “It was a great opportunity for myself to feel like I was able to do something for the community, and from the Cheddar’s standpoint. Cheddar’s is oriented from family tradition.”

More importantly, the manager wanted to show the kids that no matter where they’re at in their life, and no matter how hard they’re struggling, there are people who care and willing to give support.

Tristan Bogs said he feels the same. Bogs is the manager of Logan’s Roadhouse in San Angelo who changed what could have been an unfortunate situation. The night before the feast, Muro and Hickey learned the restaurant only had about half of the rolls needed for the feast, so they began to worry. However, Bogs volunteered to go in to work on his day off in the early morning hours to personally bake the remaining rolls needed to ensure everything went smoothly.

“It’s community involvement and trying to help out,” Bogs said.

He also said he wanted to do what he could to make sure these kids were taken care of.

“I want these kids to know that no matter what, there are always people out there willing to help,” he said.

Bogs said as kid his family also struggled and didn’t have a lot, but he learned to give back and to not only think of himself. He hopes his actions Tuesday teach these kids the same.

The other restaurants, companies and individuals who helped make Tuesday’s feast a success included Albertson’s, Chile’s, La Chilanga’s, H-E-B, Johnny Carinos, Shannon Hospital, Fuentes Café Downtown, Day Head Start kitchen staff, the Wilson family and the Hickey family.