GROUPS EXTEND HAND FOR THANKSGIVING

As many Cape Girardeau families prepare for Thanksgiving, some residents are either unable to afford the traditional dinner or simply are faced with the prospect of enduring the holiday alone.

But two establishments on Good Hope Street hope to make the holiday more cheerful for those who otherwise might see Thanksgiving as just another day.

The Salvation Army will again hold its annual Thanksgiving dinner, and Mollie's restaurant, situated just east of the Salvation Army building at 627 Good Hope, this year also will serve a free meal.

Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army said the charitable organization still seeks some donated items for the meal.

"We're still in need of hams, mainly," he said. "We've been getting a lot of donated turkeys, but we do need hams.

"We can always use more turkeys, because we'll distribute them at Christmastime also."

The annual dinner is open to anyone and will be served from noon until 2 p.m. Thursday at the Salvation Army church at 701 Good Hope.

Mollie's will be open from 2-5 p.m. with a free buffet.

"It's for people who don't have a place to go or get stuck in town for some reason," said John Wyman, who along with his wife Jerrianne, owns Mollie's. "And it's for people who don't have the money to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for themselves."

The restaurant, which has been open on Good Hope for two years, will not solicit donations for the dinner. Wyman said Mollie's employees are donating their time to help with the buffet.

The restaurant will serve turkey, ham, dressing, bread pudding, fruit salads and pumpkin-pecan pie, Wyman said. The buffet will be free, but no alcohol will be served.

"We don't really know what to expect," he said. "We'll be spending our Thanksgiving here, too. It should be a fun and interesting event."

Wyman said the practice is common for restaurants in other cities.

"It's such an easy idea for us to do, really," he added. "That's what we're set up to do, is to serve people. We wanted to do this last year, but our kitchen wasn't open yet."

The Salvation Army will deliver meals to people unable to get to the church.

"If people need a meal delivered to their home, we'll basically go anywhere within the city," Trapp said. "They can call 335-7000 and we'll make the necessary arrangements.

"Also, for people who don't want to get out and buy food to donate, they can send cash contributions to P.O. Box 802."

Trapp said he expects the Salvation Army to serve about 500 people this Thanksgiving.

"We'll have about 250 people at the church and about 250 meals carried out," he said. "That's pretty typical."

He said that the agency is "insulated" from many of the peaks and valleys of the general economy, and the people of Cape Girardeau are faithful givers to those in need.

"We never really see recessions," he said. "People that have it, give a little bit more, and we have new people who never thought about giving before and they get to thinking about it and say, `Hey, I can ease things for someone else.'

"With the difficulties of the economy, people just dig down a little deeper."

Trapp acknowledged that a slumping economy does affect the number of people who come to the Salvation Army for help, particularly on holidays.

"What we're seeing is a lot of first-timers coming to our facilities," he said. "They're people, who perhaps last year were working five days a week, and now are only working four days. They get in a bind and they come to the Salvation Army.

"Because of the support given to the Salvation Army, we're able to meet those people's needs at their level.

"The people of this area really do care about people and the fact that our budget grows every year reflects that," said Trapp. "That also reflects that there are greater needs each year. But this is a wonderful community that really cares about its people."

Trapp said about 30 people already have volunteered to help serve the Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. "In the past, we've also had about 40 people just show up the day of the meal to help.

"It's awesome to see. People many times are by themselves on Thanksgiving and they want to come by and help.

"The people in Cape Girardeau have always been very generous, particularly around the holidays."