After sharing a Thanksgiving meal with friends in 2000, Richard Bagdonas started thinking about all the leftover food and wondered if there was a way to share it with his Austin community, according to the Operation Turkey website.
“That Thanksgiving, I drove downtown to 6th Street on my way home and handed out a plate of food to a homeless man in a wheelchair,” Bagdonas said on the organization's website. “He couldn’t thank me because he was mentally challenged, but the homeless guy next to him said ‘thank you’ and helped feed the meal to the man. Afterwards I sat in my car and cried, and I knew I wanted to do something about it.”
The organization started small. The next year, Bagdonas donated two meals. Then in 2002, Bagdonas recruited friends to join him. They donated four dinners, two coats and a blanket, according to the website.
The organization has grown significantly over the past 22 years. Operation Turkey has more than 30,000 volunteers in several cities across the U.S. with a goal of providing 55,000 meals this Thanksgiving.
The Fort Worth event is located at The Library Bar Fort Worth Texas, 611 Houston St., according to the organization’s website. To register to volunteer and to find more information, visit www.operationturkey.com/locations/fort-worth/.
