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Playinghardball

(11,665 posts) Thu Nov 28, 2013, 02:03 PM Nov 2013

For 28th year, man hosts Thanksgiving dinner for strangers

Every year for almost three decades, Scott Macaulay of Melrose, Mass., has hosted an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner for strangers.

Scott Macaulay isn’t into self-promotion. He’s never sought out media coverage. In fact, he likes it that most of the people he feeds each Thanksgiving don’t know his name.

On Thursday, for the 28th time, the Massachusetts man is preparing a full turkey dinner for a whole bunch of people he’s never met. His 70 or so guests — elderly people, cancer patients, AA members, low-income people, at-risk teens, recently divorced people, widowed people and others — have one detail in common: Without Macaulay, they’d be alone on Thanksgiving.

“Eh, what I do isn’t a big deal, really,” the self-effacing 52-year-old told TODAY.com. “I put some birds in the oven, boil some mashed potatoes.

“I mean, c’mon. I’m a dumb dodo bird who fixes vacuum cleaners for a living. I’ve got nothing to offer except time, and some birds I can get for 69 cents a pound. I just don’t want people to be stuck at home feeling rotten.”
'A celebration around a table'
Macaulay’s unconventional Thanksgiving tradition began in 1985, right around the time his parents decided to get divorced. The holidays got messy that year, and Macaulay, who was 24 at the time, sensed he’d be spending Thanksgiving alone.

It was a terrible feeling.

“The thought of eating a TV dinner by myself, or even cooking a Thanksgiving meal for one person — no thank you,” he recalled. “Thanksgiving isn’t about fireworks or band concerts or hoopla. It’s a celebration around a table with food. It’s not fun to do that by yourself.”

More here: http://www.today.com/holidayguide/28th-year-man-hosts-thanksgiving-dinner-strangers-2D11663458