FORT DODGE, Iowa — Some Iowa Central Community College culinary arts students put their skills to the test on Thursday.
Just over a dozen of them volunteered to serve free Thanksgiving meals to the community.
“Seeing everybody come through that's happy, it's a great feeling,” culinary arts student Brady Schumacher said. “I've heard ‘thank-you's,’ ‘happy Thanksgiving,’ just countless times.”
From green beans to turkey, students spent the last week and a half cooking and getting everything ready to serve later.
“They broke down about 70 or 80 turkeys, made gravy from the bones and they cooked all the turkey breast and lots of vegetables,” culinary arts instructor Geoffrey Phillipson said.
This year, the students gave out about 2,500 meals at the Fort Dodge Ford Toyota dealership. They prepared an additional 1,000 to deliver out into the community.
“We have several people that come, and they may have lost a spouse or their family lives out of the community, and they just don't want to be alone on Thanksgiving Day,” dealership owner Casey Johnson said.
Students also learned how to serve a large group of people and work together as a team.
“I've learned so much through this experience,” culinary arts student Emma Frahm said. “I've learned time management and just making sure that everything is done on time.”
Most importantly, this experience taught the students an important life lesson, one that can’t be learned in the classroom.
“It's not just about making food to make money,” Phillipson said. “It's about making food to serve people, and sometimes that's more rewarding.”