Disney to serve Thanksgiving dinner at Orlando homeless shelter

Jason Garcia, News — By Jason Garcia on November 24, 2009 at 11:52 am

Sometime today, chef Tony Marotta of Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa will begin preparing a Thanksgiving feast big enough to feed 700 people.

But the meal isn’t for tourists vacationing at Walt Disney World. It’s for people who might otherwise go hungry on the holiday.

The Thanksgiving dinner will be served Thursday at the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, a non-profit shelter that provides food and shelter to approximately 600 people each night, many of them families with children. Disney will also dispatch 14 employees, volunteering through its “VoluntEARS” program, to help serve at the coalition’s Center for Women and Families and Men’s Pavilion.

Marotta, who will be assisted by chefs from Disney’s Old Key West Resort, plans to make a traditional feast with roasted turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, steamed vegetables, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and various desserts.

The holiday feast isn’t the only assistance Disney provides to coalition. Twice a month, for instance, Disney donates meals prepared by its chefs, something a spokeswoman said Disney has done for at least a decade. It also gives money, including a $60,000 grant earlier this year.

And come Christmas, Disney volunteers will be back at the coalition, serving a dinner prepared by chefs from Disney’s Polynesian and Contemporary resorts.

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