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TURKEY SPECIAL

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 23, 2007

SAN ANTONIO - Vera and Wayne Price of Zephyrhills wanted to do something to help others on Thanksgiving, so they called the Benedictine Sisters of Florida six years ago and signed up to volunteer.

The couple peeled cucumbers, prepared salads, cleared tables and generally pitched in where needed to serve a few hundred meals to needy families and those who otherwise would be alone on the holiday. They returned to the annual dinner the next year, and the year after that, until sharing Thanksgiving dinner with the sisters of the Holy Name Monastery of St. Leo became a tradition.

"Then I got sick," Vera Price said. "Now, we come because we're used to coming here. We put in a donation instead of volunteering."

The 20 Benedictine sisters have been preparing Thanksgiving dinner - with turkey, mashed potatoes and other traditional fixings - for a growing crowd for 11 years with the help of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.

The nuns, parishioners and community volunteers served more than 300 people this year, including about 160 at St. Antony's parish hall and an equal number at a women's shelter and group homes in east Pasco, said Sister Mary Clare Neuhofer, the prioress. The sisters also delivered meals to about 60 homebound people Thursday.

Vera Price's sister Fannie Rysz and her husband, Stanley, also have been sharing their Thanksgiving meal with the sisters for the past several years. They also plan a small gathering Sunday with relatives.

"They came last year on their anniversary," Vera Price said. "Tomorrow is their anniversary."

For the sisters, sharing Thanksgiving dinner is a family event. They peel potatoes at the monastery, make pies by the half-dozen and cook turkeys in their kitchen before the event. They transport the hot food from the monastery to the parish hall.

The sisters generally spend Christmas, Easter and other holidays together and visit their families in the off times. Neuhofer and her biological sister Dorothy, who also is a Benedictine sister, usually visit their eight siblings in St. Joseph between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Sister Pauline Block, 92, joined the monastery 76 years ago with five other sisters, including two who still are living: Sister Irma Multer and Sister Helen Lange.

"The others have gone to heaven," Block said.

Multer, 94, did not want to sit idle this year, Neuhofer said, so she monitored a basket for monetary donations at the front of the parish hall.

Gertrude Roundtree of Dade City started having Thanksgiving with the sisters five years ago when she was taking care of an ailing sister. When the sister died, she kept coming.

"I enjoy meeting different people, talking, and I enjoy the meal," she said.

Marie Malone of San Antonio traded in traveling for volunteering as she prepared to retire from an airline company recently. Her children are out of state.

Ellen Mejias, a parishioner and teacher at St. Anthony's School has been the food manager for the past four years, making sure the food gets out on time and everyone has drinks. She puts her husband and six children to work, too. Then they go home to have dinner together.

"My kids look forward to it every year," she said. "This is a small thing we can do to help."

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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