When a senior‑center phone call revealed a missed delivery, San Antonio volunteers Debbie Moreno, 67, and Tracey Wright‑Grabatin, 60, jumped into Moreno’s pickup and completed the drop‑off themselves. Their dedication kept the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner (RJTD) on schedule for the city’s most vulnerable seniors.
Volunteer effort expands to 5,000 meals
From November 22 through the week of Thanksgiving, the pair will be based at the Henry B. González Convention Center, where they and a network of 350 drivers will prepare and load roughly 5,000 homebound meals. “We try to have all of the meals out the door no later than 1 p.m.,” Wright‑Grabatin, a RJTD volunteer for nearly two decades, said.
The RJTD program, which began in 1979, now provides more than 25,000 meals each year to seniors and others in need. Last year the organization added 4,000 meals to serve an increasing number of unhoused seniors, bringing the total to 29,000 meals.
Hours, steps and contingency plans
Volunteer days start as early as 5:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving and run until 7 p.m. or later. “It’s like 25,000 steps a day all over the convention center,” Wright‑Grabatin noted, describing the physical toll of loading, unloading and shuttling food to apartments, senior centers, homes and a local hospital.
When drivers call in sick, Moreno and Wright‑Grabatin activate a contingency plan, calling on other volunteers to fill gaps. Their meticulous coordination has become second nature, ensuring that no senior goes without a Thanksgiving meal.
Stories of gratitude and quick fixes
Even when a delivery mistake sent food to the wrong senior center, the volunteers responded swiftly. After a director from the affected center alerted King’s Compassion, the nonprofit’s CEO Rose Reyes called Moreno. The volunteers loaded a Chevy Silverado and drove the correct meals to Woodlawn Pines, an income‑restricted senior housing community, earning high praise from Reyes for going “above and beyond our expectations.”
Both women have sacrificed paid time off to serve during the holiday week, saving a week of PTO each year so they can be on the ground when the need is greatest.
How to help
Community members who wish to join the effort can sign up on the RJTD website. The annual dinner itself is open to the public at the convention center on Thanksgiving Day, with doors opening at 9 a.m., a worship service at 10 a.m., and food, entertainment and dancing through the afternoon.
Moreno and Wright‑Grabatin’s story exemplifies the power of local volunteers to uphold the tradition of caring for seniors, reinforcing the values of family, faith and community that define San Antonio.
Original reporting: San Antonio Report — read the source article.
