Hard Rock Casino upped the ante this holiday season as its chefs prepared 500 individual Thanksgiving dinners for local residents at the Salvation Army of Lake County Gary-Merrillville Corps Community Center on Nov. 21. It’s the fourth year running for the bountiful partnership, and the giveaway saw increased participation from the 340 dinners chefs served up last year. To prepare the dinners, chefs start preparing and cooking the dozens of turkeys and hundreds of pounds of side dishes at least two days in advance.
The dinners included roasted turkey and gravy, sage bread dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, ham, green bean casserole, house salad with vinaigrette dressing, a dinner roll and butter, and a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert. The meals were served hot and packaged in to-go containers for participants to pick up without leaving their cars. Michael Gaudreau, Vice President of Casino Operations and a member of the Salvation Army of Lake County’s Advisory Board, and Salvation Army Captain Justin Steckbauer were on hand to help distribute the dinners in a drive-through pick-up at the Community Center. Hard Rock has traditionally partnered with the Salvation Army not only for the Thanksgiving dinner, but it also helps provide hundreds of gifts for its Angel Tree program as well.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
