SAN ANTONIO – Thanksgiving is right around the corner and here in San Antonio, the annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner aims to help so many families across our community.
During the holiday season, many families don’t have the luxury of a holiday meal, so the nonprofit Jimenez Dinner helps provide just that.
Patricia Jimenez joined Leading SA on Sunday to discuss how the Jimenez Dinner will help area families this holiday season, with an even larger goal than last year.
“My father started this in 1979 because he wanted to give back in gratitude for all of his blessings. My mom and he had started a business when they first got here to San Antonio. And so he wanted to say thank you, but also find a way to help where it was needed. The first year, with the help of the city, he actually brought the dinner to the city for the first time and to see 200 senior citizens were fed and fast forwarding to 2019, we fed 25,000... the more people that we can help, the better. This year we’re making adjustments and we’re doing what we can to help,” Patricia Jimenez said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown some obstacles at the organizers of the dinner, but the goal is still the same -- to help as many families as possible.
“Well, last year there were many questions, and we were so grateful to the city of San Antonio because they allowed us to use the facilities. Everything was pretty much shut down and they allowed us to use the facilities, and the community was so gracious. We thought we might have trouble getting volunteers to actually drive and deliver the meals. But within a couple of days, all the slots were filled, and so we did what we could under the circumstances, and that’s what we’re doing again this year,” Jimenez said.
There is still a need for volunteers, so if you want to sign up and help out, or sign up for the meals, head to: https://www.rauljimenezdinner.com/.
“We are still going to bring hope and joy and a delicious Thanksgiving meal to those who would otherwise do without. And this year, we increased the numbers to 12,500 meals to be delivered. Last year, we delivered right under 10,000,” Jimenez said.
You can watch the full interview with Jimenez in the video player above.