The Morro Bay Lions Club will serve the Morro Bay community with over 700 meals Thanksgiving Day with a delivery system and drive-thru.
The club celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2021 and is continuing its tradition of Thanksgiving meals while working around the obstacle of COVID-19.
“There has been a Thanksgiving community dinner and the Lions have been in charge of this for about a decade,” said Morro Bay Lions Club President Chuck Stoll.
The club intends to provide meals for the second consecutive year with a drive-thru and home delivery system.
“We have a drive-thru that people can walk in or drive-through and we have a delivery service for those that want to have their meals delivered at home,” said Stoll.
“We needed to stay within the CDC guidelines. We met and talked about it and made it happen by wearing our masks and wearing our gloves and doing all that we needed to do,” said Morro Bay Lions Club board member Lora Gomes.
The club will have the assistance of 40 volunteers on Thanksgiving.
The city will provide the Morro Bay Community Center as the venue used for the drive-thru after being used in previous years for in-house meals.
Organizations assisting the Morro Bay Lions Club, including the Girl Scouts, have been flexible in helping despite no longer offering meals inside the building.
“In the past, the Girl Scouts went in on Wednesday before and decorated the whole room for them. Since we can’t do that this year, we’ve been asked to provide some scarecrows to decorate the parking lot,” said California Central Coast Girl Scouts volunteer Eileen Murta.
The Thanksgiving dinner is one of the many events the Morro Bay Lions Club puts on during the year.
“We are here to serve and that is what this organization does, so not only are we doing the Thanksgiving dinners or Monday night food group, car giveaways, and we do the prescription glasses, and we give scholarships,” said Gomes.
“The Morro Bay Lions has done a really great job providing this Thanksgiving dinner for many years so we’re happy to help them with that,” said Murta.
Deliveries for the Thanksgiving dinners will take place from noon until 1:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
The drive-thru at the Morro Bay Community Center will take place from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.
“Whatever we can do to be a part of and to give to our community and beyond is what we’re here to do,” said Gomes.
“Hopefully, we can serve the people here and do our best to make this a great community,” said Stoll.
For home deliveries in Morro Bay, you can make a reservation by calling 805-772-4421.
The Lions Foundation will additionally be giving away a car as part of their Thanksgiving celebration.
Additional members supporting the Morro Bay Lions Club include partnerships with AGP Video, Casa de Flores, Dorn’s Restaurant, Morro Bay Police Officers and Police Volunteers, Mission Linen, Morro Bay Senior Center, Spencer’s Fresh Market, Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce, Albertsons, Mi Casa Restaurant, SLO Food Bank, and private donors.
