OSWEGO, NY – Trinity Catholic School’s family gathered Wednesday evening for a harvest feast.
“This is a celebration for the whole Trinity family, from pre-schoolers to their parents, grandparents and friends,” explained Principal Joe Lazarski.
Trinity is the sole Catholic school in Oswego County.
It was possibly the best attended harvest feasts the school has had, the new principal added.
They were preparing food for 420 people, said Barb Sugar, a Trinity teacher and one of the organizers.
Jane LaBlanc of the Home and School Association said they had been planning the popular event for weeks.
“This shows the amount of support the school has,” said Bill Gregway, who attended the celebration with his grandson. “The Home and School Association did an outstanding job.”
Home and School Association volunteers worked for more than two weeks planning and preparing the banquet.
Volunteers from SUNY Oswego manned the serving lines; in anticipation of the large crowd two serving lines were opened, with serving along both sides of each.
The homecooked meal included turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and all the rest of the trimmings.
Price Chopper helped out by preparing 25 small turkeys for Trinity.
After Father Guy Baccaro, pastor at St. Paul’s, gave the blessing, a group of kindergartners led the crowd in reciting The Lord’s Prayer and saying grace.
The pre-school classes performed some holiday related tunes for the crowd a bit later.
The volunteers then started serving the huge crowd. The line waiting to be served snaked all the way around Priory Hall.
Volunteers doled out one hearty helping after another to everyone in line.
Despite the hundreds of plates filled with food – there was more than enough to satisfy anyone who wanted seconds.
“This is one of our biggest events of the year. It celebrates our family here at Trinity,” Sugar explained. “The home and school and all the other volunteers did a great job.”
After dinner, the pre-school chorus provided the entertainment. The three-year-olds performed a couple of songs and were followed by a performance by the four-year-olds.
Waving handmade decorations, including pumpkin faces and leaves, the children sang several seasonal songs.
Many of the parents and grandparents in the audience photographed or videotaped the performance.
To prepare the meal, the organizers used nearly a dozen of the large cans each of applesauce and corn, and big bags of stuffing, and “pounds” of potatoes, Sugar said.
There were also dozens of cans of cranberry sauce and 75 pounds of squash donated by George Krul of Stoney Meadows Farm in Scriba, LaBlanc added.
Historically, if there is any leftover turkey, it is saved so the students can make homemade turkey soup in a while for their annual Thanksgiving party.
For more information, call 343-6700 or visit http://home.twcny.rr.com/trinity/
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