Last Updated on November 24, 2023, 10:33 PM | Published: November 24, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — For the twelfth year in a row, the OKC Homeless Alliance held their Turkey Tango event – offering a full, free, chef-prepared, and volunteer-served Thanksgiving meal on the day before the holiday – at their Westtown Homeless Resource Campus headquarters on Wednesday.
The mood was lively and friendly as ever, even as the year undoubtedly saw a bigger turnout than possibly ever before, a fact the Homeless Alliance leadership and staff attribute to the newly opened Night Shelter just one block away.
The annual event (officially renamed Clayton’s Turkey Tango in recent years in honor of event co-founder and organizer Clayton Bahr) is routinely the biggest meal of the year for the Homeless Alliance and the Westtown Day Shelter, but Wednesday’s turnout looked to be especially large.
“We have the Night Shelter open now, so we have a lot more people staying close, and maybe that’s why we have more people today,” said longtime volunteer Zaneen Fletcher-Hall. “But also, people just know it’s a good meal.”
New Chef, Old Favorites
Unlike previous years, the kitchen area at the Westtown Shelter was closed and covered from prying eyes before the meal service kicked off at 11:30 am.
That was primarily due to the day’s kitchen staff being shorthanded, as well as the added strain of preparing bagged dinners for the Night Shelter on top of cooking and preparing the sprawling Turkey Tango meal for the afternoon.
All of this was overseen by the Homeless Alliance’s new head food director, Chef Chris McDermitt, formerly of award-winning Grey Sweater and The Hutch on Avondale.
“Chris has really kind of upgraded the meal service here,” said Dan Straughan, Executive Director of the Homeless Alliance. “I know he loved working in restaurants, but I think he just wanted to do something more meaningful. And this is his first Turkey Tango.”
Central to the day’s menu, of course, was the turkey, with Butterball directly donating 75 full-sized birds to the event.
But it was the mouth-watering selection of pies that a majority of guests said they had their sights on, with the pumpkin and pecan pies on top of everyone’s lists.
New Night Shelter
The day’s exceptional turnout was credited largely to the opening of the Homeless Alliance’s brand-new Night Shelter just down the street.
“We just opened for the first time last Friday night,” said Straughan. “Before we were able to get it open, we were just doing a night shelter in here, operating 24 hours a day for a couple of weeks.”
Even after just one week, the Night Shelter has already seen as many as 200 guests per night, a clear success in terms of messaging and spreading the word of the shelter’s availability, but an unfortunate reminder of the scale of the city’s increasing homeless population.
“I’ve had several of our clients tell me how grateful they are just to have a bed to sleep on instead of just a mat on concrete,” Straughan said. “So it’s been great to be able to offer that.”
‘If You Believe’
In addition to lining up for the day’s fantastic meal, many of the guests at the Westtown Campus were also there to avail themselves of the many services that the Homeless Alliance offers, such as assistance with housing, work placement, Medicaid, and even bus passes and pet services.
These services have had a profound effect on guests like 61-year-old Franklin Smith, who was excited about the Turkey Tango meal, but who has also been working with the Homeless Alliance for assistance after finding himself homeless following a short jail stay on an old warrant.
“Now I’m getting ready to get my life back together being here at the Homeless Alliance,” Smith told Free Press. “They have really helped me. I mean immensely.”
Smith wanted to encourage anyone combating similar challenges to seek out places like the Homeless Alliance as a valuable source of help and assistance with some of the biggest obstacles faced by those experiencing homelessness, be they legal, medical, financial, or more.
“If you get out and try, you can really make a difference in your life,” he said. “If you believe, and you at least try, you’ll make it.”
As for what Smith was most excited to eat? No surprise there.
“Well,” he said with a smile, “the pie.”
If you or anyone you know is experiencing or is at risk of homelessness, visit the Homeless Alliance at their Westtown Homeless Resource Campus headquarters at 1724 NW 4th St. in OKC or visit homelessalliance.org.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
