It’s an annual tradition in San Antonio. The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner happens on Thursday.
It all started back in the 1970s, when Fort Worth businessman and restaurateur Raul Jimenez wanted to give back to his customers and community.
He threw a free Thanksgiving Dinner, and about 200 senior citizens attended. Patricia Jimenez, Raul’s daughter, was a young girl during those first dinners. “These same seniors that he was honoring and wanted to thank and do something special for, had helped him build his business and had seen him grow throughout the years,” Jimenez said.
By the time he and his family moved to San Antonio in 1979, Raul had decided to make the Thanksgiving Dinner a yearly event. Jimenez passed away in 1998, and there was some question as to whether the dinner would continue. Daughter Patricia stepped in after her father’s death to make sure it did.
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving at a loading dock at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 550 turkeys were being wheeled out the back of a tractor trailer. Volunteers lined the corridor and applauded as the turkeys were moved toward a massive kitchen.
Now in its 45th year, the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner will feed 25,000 people at no charge for Thanksgiving. That includes more than 4,000 deliveries to homebound people. The dinners serve not just seniors, but those experiencing homelessness, veterans and anyone who doesn’t want to be alone on Thanksgiving.
Chef Noe Martinez oversees the massive operation of preparing the food. Along with the 550 turkeys, the dinner includes all the traditional favorites, according to Martinez.
“Six thousand pounds of green beans, 6,000 pounds of yams, 6,000 pounds of stuffing, 3,000 pounds of cranberry, and 195 gallons of gravy,” he said. Martinez noted the event wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers who show up to work in the kitchen.
One of those volunteers is Kaitlyn Munoz. She has helped to serve the food in the past, but this was her first time volunteering in the kitchen. She wasn't sure exactly what she would do on that Sunday, but she was anxious to get started. “I heard I’m deboning turkeys. … I don’t know if that’s true or not,” she said with a laugh.
This is her fourth year as a volunteer. “It makes me feel so good. It’s always worth waking up on Thanksgiving morning, or a morning like this morning, just knowing the impact it has on the city and for how long it has impacted the city. It’s really incredible, and it’s cool to just be a small, little part of it.”
Munoz got a lump in her throat when she talked about the people who just need somewhere to get away from their circumstance and sit down for a warm meal with others.
“Yeah, it really always makes me emotional because you just don’t know what people's life circumstances and situations are, so to know that they have a place to come, they're gonna eat a warm meal and maybe make some friends … and be graced with the faces of all these volunteers. I think that’s really cool.”
Patricia Jimenez thinks her father would be very proud of what the dinner has become today. “He would be smiling from ear to ear and grateful because more people are being helped. Sometimes, I wish we didn’t have such a big need, but I’m grateful that we have such a giving community that will continue to support to ensure that anybody can come and feel like family,” she said.
The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner is now one of the largest Thanksgiving benefits in the country.
