Blue Door Pub donates 1,000 turkey dinners
Blue Door Pub has upped its Turkey Day game.
For the past few years, the popular chain of local restaurants has donated a couple hundred Thanksgiving meals to the Twin Cities Salvation Army.
This year, the company has gone berserk – 1,000 meals.
“We have the kitchen, we have the people, we have the resources – why not do it?” pondered Blue Door co-owner Jeremy Woerner (pictured above). “Every year, this gets a little bigger as our business grows.”
And grow it has: In 2016 the company opened its third Blue Door location, plus the Hi-Lo Diner in Minneapolis – where singing superstar Adele ate breakfast on the 4th of July.
About half of the Thanksgiving meals will be served at the N. Lyndale Ave. Salvation Army in North Minneapolis. The rest will be split between six other Twin Cities Salvation Army locations, such as our Booth Brown House shelter for homeless youth.
The meals will include every tempting Thanksgiving staple one would expect: turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes and more, much of which will be donated by Blue Door’s vendors.
Blue Door first provided Thanksgiving meals for The Salvation Army three years ago at our operation center on East Lake Street in Minneapolis, through a connection with the center’s co-leader, Captain Jesus Trejo (pictured).
In addition to helping the Twin Cities Salvation Army, Blue Door will donate another 700 meals for other local charities.
Behind the swinging doors
It’s enough that Blue Door is cooking and donating so much food. Even more impressive is the amount of volunteers it will take to pull it off.
An astounding 75 Blue Door volunteers will be on board to cook, serve, deliver, and clean throughout Thanksgiving Day.
“We especially appreciate our cleaners – there will be a tremendous amount of dirty dishes,” Woerner said.
Many of the volunteers are former Blue Door employees who come back to help out. Others are current employees, their family members and their friends.
“The outpouring of support is humbling. Everyone is so gracious,” Woerner said.
After the last meal has been delivered, and the last dish has been washed, Woerner and Blue Door’s other owner, Pat McDonough, will carry on a company tradition by hosting a Thanksgiving feast for any of their restaurants’ employees who want to attend.
“Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year – we’re out there having a great time with a great bunch of people,” Woerner said. “It’s the best of the holidays coming through.”
The Salvation Army appreciates Blue Door Pub, its employees and its volunteers.
“They are a godsend,” said Lt. Col. Lonneal Richardson, Salvation Army Northern Division commander. “Their efforts will help make Thanksgiving special for hundreds of people and families served by The Salvation Army.”
Please join The Salvation Army by volunteering or making a donation to support your local community.