BARSTOW • Mark Sielski already had a bit of good and bad news by 9:30 a.m.

The co-chair of Holiday Meals spent the nights leading up to Thanksgiving wondering if everything would go smoothly.
He announced to a crowded Barstow Senior Center that all of the 413 meals had been passed out by 9:30 a.m. Holiday Meals had to turn away people hoping to deliver meals.

“I was blown away,” Sielski said. “In a way, I felt kind of bad because there were so many people that still wanted to help and we had nothing left for them to do.”

Sielski planned to be at the senior center until noon passing out meals but almost everything was finished by 10:30 a.m.
The meals included turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans, and included a card designed by students at Crestline and Henderson Elementary Schools. Holiday Meals also brought 87 meals to Desert Manna Ministries.

Food also moved fast at Straw Hat Pizza, where the Police Activities League gave a free meal to anyone who walked in the door. The restaurant was set to open at 11 a.m., but Straw Hat Pizza owner Jeff Eason started letting people in 15 minutes early because there was already a line. More than 100 people were served in the first hour.

“Our goal is to serve as many people as we can good, hot meals,” Eason said.

Three local restaurant owners came together to help make and serve the meals at Straw Hat Pizza. Eason was joined by Max Atalla of Los Domingos and Gabriel Diaz of Ambiance Steakhouse. Diaz began cooking 30 20-pound turkeys day and night on Tuesday for the event.

“I think that’s so neat because if you were in L.A., you wouldn’t have three restaurant owners working together,” Eason said.

Eason said he had more than enough volunteers for the afternoon, including winners of the Miss Barstow pageant and many of his own employees who came to work off the clock on Thanksgiving. Eason credited the city of Barstow for stepping up to help residents in need.
The caring spirit wasn’t just on the side of volunteers. When the Milton family went to deliver their meal from Holiday Meals to Pat Wald on Yucca Avenue, Wald said she wished she could be doing the same.

“I think it’s great,” said Wald, who has cataracts. “I’d like to chip in if I ever get my eyes fixed.”

Between Holiday Meals, the meals available at Straw Hat Pizza through  PAL and others giving out meals, more than 1,000 meals were prepared on Thanksgiving for Barstow residents.

Holiday Meals and PAL ramped up food production this year due to the sagging economy. Each organization added an extra 200 meals to its production.

“Barstow is a very caring community, and when times are tough, I think more people dig deep and help more,” Eason said.

It was the first Thanksgiving for Holiday Meals. The organization, which now falls under the umbrella of the Barstow Senior Center’s home-delivered meal program, was formed to deliver meals for Christmas 2007. The organization also passed out meals on Easter. And another 500 meals are being planned for Christmas this year.

“We are going to really try to market it more to get to more people who need the delivery,” Sielski said. “There’s only so much you can do to get the word out, but I just need to do a better job getting the word.”

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4124 or mpeters@desertdispatch.com