This year the St. Paul Grandparent's Thanksgiving Day Dinner will be held on November 17, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. in the multipurpose room, located inside the elementary school. It started in 1997, and has been hosted for thirteen years by the St. Paul Student Council.
“Grandparents cook many Thanksgiving dinners in their lifetime and contribute so much to the St. Paul Schools, we would like give them something in return,” said Diane Harper, Student Council sponsor. This program really excites the grandparents and is well known in the community.
The St. Paul STUCO members are the volunteers that make this program successful every year. They start by shopping two days ahead of time, making the salads the night before, and waking up at 5:30 a.m. the day of the dinner to finish preparing the rest of the meal.
One hundred and fifty people usually attend, and it lasts from about 1:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. Everyone eats and visits with friends and family from 1:00 p.m. till 1:45 p.m., and after that they will enjoy holiday songs performed by the kindergarten through sixth grade choir and the High School Choir.
After all the activities have been performed and everyone has enjoyed the amount of food they would like, it takes about an hour and half for the STUCO members to clean up. By 4:30 p.m. the cleaning is usually complete and everyone is tired and ready to go home, but as they walk out the doors everyone leaves excited and ready for the next year to come!
Mrs. Harper says she would like to see the dinner grow and see new faces as the years continue on. She also hopes the tradition will carry on long after she retires from the program.
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This year the St. Paul Grandparent's Thanksgiving Day Dinner will be held on November 17, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. in the multipurpose room, located inside the elementary school. It started in 1997, and has been hosted for thirteen years by the St. Paul Student Council.
“Grandparents cook many Thanksgiving dinners in their lifetime and contribute so much to the St. Paul Schools, we would like give them something in return,” said Diane Harper, Student Council sponsor. This program really excites the grandparents and is well known in the community.
The St. Paul STUCO members are the volunteers that make this program successful every year. They start by shopping two days ahead of time, making the salads the night before, and waking up at 5:30 a.m. the day of the dinner to finish preparing the rest of the meal.
One hundred and fifty people usually attend, and it lasts from about 1:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. Everyone eats and visits with friends and family from 1:00 p.m. till 1:45 p.m., and after that they will enjoy holiday songs performed by the kindergarten through sixth grade choir and the High School Choir.
After all the activities have been performed and everyone has enjoyed the amount of food they would like, it takes about an hour and half for the STUCO members to clean up. By 4:30 p.m. the cleaning is usually complete and everyone is tired and ready to go home, but as they walk out the doors everyone leaves excited and ready for the next year to come!
Mrs. Harper says she would like to see the dinner grow and see new faces as the years continue on. She also hopes the tradition will carry on long after she retires from the program.
