Rising from ashes: Saugatuck feast shares bounty

Four days after a fire wreaked heavy damage to Saugatuck Congregational Church, more than 100 volunteers cooked, carved and served 36 turkeys to more than 200 attendees Thursday at the church's 41st annual Thanksgiving community feast.

"This is the first year we're not hosting the dinner in our church," said Mary Ann West, spokeswoman for the 179-year-old house of worship. "But it's only because so many in the community stepped up that we're having it at all."

Within the first 60 minutes of the six-hour blaze Sunday, West said church officials received multiple offers from others to host the free community dinner at alternate locations in town.

Church leaders chose Christ and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at 75 Church Lane, West said, partly because it's nearby the landmark church on Post Road East.

The fire caused other complications for the Thanksgiving event. Among the casualties were about 30 turkeys that had been defrosting in the church kitchen.

But the outpouring of support from the community helped church leaders overcome this hurdle.

Stew Leonard's supermarket in Norwalk gave 25 turkeys to replace those it had already donated. Britt-Air, a Westport-based heating and air-conditioning business, offered another 15 birds. In the end, the church had more turkeys than it had before the blaze, West said.

And so at 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, hot turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables and an assortment of pies were served to anyone in need or want of a traditional holiday meal, or just sharing of a communal celebration of American bounty.

The only difference from years past was the location.

"We're very thankful so many people stepped up to help us help others," said West.

Attendees appeared equally thankful.

"We go to this every year," said Norwalk resident Ricky Soto. "It's good that this church helped so we could all come and have this."

Seated beside a four-piece jazz band, Paul Nordling reached across a paper tablecloth decorated with finger turkeys for a slice of pie and reminisced about growing up as a Saugatuck Congregational parishioner. Until he moved to Easton two years ago, he said he had been a Westport resident 40 years. He attended services at the church many of those years.

"The night of the fire, it was about 11 p.m., and my friend called me and said, `You're not going to believe this -- there's flames coming out of the windows of the church.'" said Nordling. "I was extremely upset."

Nordling said he "didn't think about the dinner that night. I was just thinking about the church -- about the building itself. But afterward it donned on me and I said, `I guess they won't have it this year.'

"I was so happy when I heard they were going forward with it. There are a lot of people who really need this, more than me."