Firehouse-Starr Elementary partnership to serve Thanksgiving BBQ continues despite fire

RICHMOND, Ind. — Usually, turkey is the headliner. Some might prefer ham. Others bend the rules and start off with pie.

For the fourth year in a row, the Starr Elementary community’s main Thanksgiving dish will be barbeque.

Since 2018, Starr Elementary School and Firehouse BBQ and Blues have partnered to make sure all of their neighborhood families are fed for Thanksgiving.

“It has given our families an opportunity to have a home-cooked meal that they may not otherwise be able to have on Thanksgiving Day,” Starr Principal Mallory Hill said.

All food provided by the restaurant is free to any family that signs up. Families have the option of ordering pickup or delivery, which will take place 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

This will be the second straight year the process will be altered due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, Firehouse also offered in-house dining for Starr families. Last year, it was reduced to just pickup and delivery, and about 350 meals were served. As of Nov. 22, that number had been surpassed, reaching about 500 meals in total. Hill said about a dozen Starr staff members have signed up as volunteers to help Firehouse BBQ owner Tom Broyles and his staff on Thursday.

While she does miss having the in-person event where teachers and administrators would act as servers, Hill said, the current process allows them to reach a larger population of the community.

“One thing that's really great, whether it's in-house or the delivery, is it's a great opportunity for the Starr staff to give back and serve our community that we work with every day,” she said. “It’s just great to see the staff really enjoy the families and serve them in a completely different aspect than we could here at school.”

This year, the Thanksgiving partnership will have an unexpected change as well. The morning of Nov. 18, a fire broke out in Firehouse’s kitchen. The fire’s cause is currently unknown.

More: Fire significantly damages Firehouse BBQ & Blues kitchen

What is certain is the show will go on. Despite the restaurant's kitchen being, essentially, destroyed, Broyles isn't worried about the state of their Thanksgiving operation. All meals ordered for delivery are still planned to be distributed on time, and, instead of holding pickup orders at Firehouse, they will be at Abilities Richmond off of North E Street.

More: Abilities Richmond turns condemned Depot District building into its 'forever home'

While Firehouse plans to run everything as planned as much as possible, other organizations will be providing for the holidays as well, giving community members plenty of options. Tim Pierson, Richmond Bridges for Life co-founder, was ready to team up with Firehouse after he heard about the fire, and he reached out to Broyles as soon as he could.

“I sent Tom a message that just said, 'Hey, I know you guys do a lot of the Thanksgiving support for Starr. We'll bring an assist in here if we need to. We'll feed them Friday night if they need to,'” he said.

Bridges for Life is a team of volunteers committed to helping others through personal interactions and professional interventions. The Friday after Thanksgiving will kick off the group’s weekly Dinner at the Lamp event, during which team members will serve guests a meal every Friday evening at First Presbyterian Church on North 10th Street.

Pierson said he was quick to offer a helping hand to Broyles because he knew he was also in the business of helping others. Simply knowing what other resources are available, Pierson said, is important to actually be able to help.

“It's really about having the partnerships with the different members and other agencies in the community that are working with the same population,” he said. “It's just being aware, as community partners, of what each of us are up to. There really shouldn't be any competition in the world of trying to help people.”

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This February will mark five years since Pierson began this Friday night routine, before Bridges for Life was formed. What started as a small handful of people walking around downtown Richmond looking for others to talk to has turned into a restaurant-type of service that provides about 100 meals every week.

“We kind of provided a way for folks to not just come in and get a meal, but get to sit down for an hour, and make some friendships and we could talk to them,” Pierson said. “The Bridges for Life side of what we're doing is we try to utilize that connection we have with the family to talk to them about other resources in the community to help them get connected in different ways.”

An “eternal optimist,” Pierson said he always hoped this event would grow. It had its fluctuation of guests, especially when the pandemic hit, but to say he’s preparing to serve Thanksgiving dinner to north of 100 people feels pretty good.

“We will do our best to have a great night that night,” Pierson said. “It won't be turkey and mashed potatoes every week, but we'll have a nice, warm meal every Friday from this point forward.”

Along with the Firehouse-Starr partnership and Dinner at the Lamp, multiple food drives were taking place in the area, including ones at Charles Elementary and Test Intermediate School.

Hill said the amount of options and support community members have is a big reason why she enjoys this time of year.

“It makes the staff here at Starr feel really good that we know there are people in our community that are helping to take care of our families,” Hill said. “That's something that we really pride ourselves on is helping families get all the support they need and to know that there are other organizations in our community helping us with those efforts … Without those resources, our families wouldn't be able to experience the holidays in the same type of way.”

Zach Piatt reports on sports and education for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Firehouse-Starr School Thanksgiving partnership continues despite fire