Held on Thanksgiving Day at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks
One Hudson Road (off Squire Pope Road), Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
11:00 am-3:00 pm
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843-505-1370
The Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner is co-sponsored by St. Andrew By-The-Sea United Methodist Church and Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks.
A free traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings is served family-style to all who attend. Visitors, residents, singles, couples, children, and entire families- everyone is welcome!
The concept for the Community Thanksgiving Dinner began with a 1998 article in the Island Packet that described lonely locals who had no place to go on Thanksgiving Day. Early the following year, Brian Carmines, then-owner of Hudson’s, Allan LaCoe, and Betsy Doughtie, the former executive director of the Deep Well Project, met to discuss opportunities to organize a community-wide event. St. Andrew By-The-Sea United Methodist Church soon signed on to spearhead the volunteer organization, and Hudson’s offered to host the first Dinner. Five hundred meals were served that Thanksgiving Day in 1999.
More than 300 volunteers – many from St. Andrew By-The-Sea UMC – now contribute their time by assisting with parking, welcoming guests, serving the meals and a variety of other tasks. Many volunteers have participated in the event for years, and the volunteer roster is full by mid-October. The day is filled with delicious food, Southern hospitality, fellowship, and entertainment.
Donations benefit local nonprofits Bluffton Self Help, Deep Well Project, and Second Helpings.
Photo credit: Thomas Love, TR Media
