The thought of having Thanksgiving by himself was not at all appealing and Scott Macaulay says he hates to eat alone, so he decided to host a dinner for others so they could all eat together. That was 1985 and he invited 12 strangers to the turkey dinner and the tradition has continued to grow since. Now he’s getting ready to host his 33rd annual Thanksgiving feast for anyone who wants to come.
Macaulay posts the ad in his local paper and anyone who’s in the Melrose, Massachusetts area is welcome to RSVP and come eat for free. He usually gets between 60 and 100 takers and over the years, he’s fed college kids, widows and widowers, homeless people, and others who just don’t want to spend Thanksgiving alone. He serves turkey and all the trimmings, and five kinds of pie, but he doesn’t like to say how much he spends because that “would take away from the spirit of it.”
And Macaulay doesn’t just feed people in the space donated by a local church, he goes all out to really make it nice. He brings in sofas, recliners, oriental rugs, lamps, curtains, candlesticks, and even a few fake fireplaces to make it like cozy.
“This isn’t about the food, though,” Macaulay explains. “It’s about having a place to go. Silence is unbearable, especially on Thanksgiving. My goal is always to replicate the feeling of having a nice dinner in somebody’s home.”
Source: Washington Post