While many households hosted large family gatherings to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Waterloo VFW played host to an especially large get-together, serving hundreds of individuals as part of one of the Waterloo Lions Club’s largest charitable traditions.

Mike and Sarah Karban are among the Lions charged with overseeing Share the Feast, an annual event which has the club help Thanksgiving come together for local residents.

Mike referred to some notes his predecessors left on the event’s history, saying it began in 1991, being hosted in the Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School cafeteria before, over the years, being moved to the Waterloo VFW.

While he wasn’t able to share numbers for those first few years, Mike was able to note that 2001 saw 135 meals served. He added volunteers typically take care of around 300 meals as of late.

This Thanksgiving left them with a new record at 416 total meals.

“It has grown exponentially since it first kicked off,” Mike said.

When it comes to putting this event together, Mike said he, Sarah and fellow Lion George Obernagel have been leading the charge the past few years.

Still looking back, he recalled how JV’s Downtown Bar & Grill handled the turkey cooking for the event – though the club now relies on Schubert’s Smokehouse in Millstadt for the biggest part of the meal.

Much the rest of the cooking is done at the VFW, which also provides some of the food alongside Schnucks in Waterloo.

“It’s pretty much a rinse-and-repeat type process,” Mike said. “We don’t change it too much. Seems to work out every year. We might change quantities a little bit.”

Everything comes together on Thanksgiving, with folks stopping by the VFW for a meal or getting it brought to their door per request.

“People do carry-outs, we do deliveries, there’s dine-ins. It is truly a community event in all shapes and forms,” Mike said. “Predominantly it’s Waterloo-based, but every year we have deliveries to both Columbia and Valmeyer as well.”

Sarah spoke further to how the event got started, with the Waterloo Lions simply recognizing a need in the community for everyone to enjoy the holiday no matter their situation.

“The club started off doing this because there was a need in the community for the elderly, shut-ins, lonely and needy who were going without a Thanksgiving meal,” Sarah said. “That’s where a lot of our deliveries and carry-outs go to. We do have people that come in to dine-in, so they’re able to socialize with other people.”

Share the Feast seems to fill this niche excellently for many folks who stop by.

Sarah further spoke about one visitor in particular who stopped by as she’s done in the past but decided to eat at the VFW this time around, only to properly meet her neighbors and strengthen a relationship.

With a tremendous amount of work done beforehand, Mike spoke about how the event can be rather hectic each year, though it’s certainly worth it given how it brings the community together.

“I like to say every year, the first hour or two seems to be controlled chaos, but we always make it work,” Mike said. “As soon as we get underway, things develop fairly quickly. It’s always fast-paced, but we always see it through.”

Speaking more on Share the Feast’s operation, Mike pointed to numerous individuals who help everything run as smooth as possible during the day.

He emphasized how there’s no shortage of help from other Lions and even those outside the club. Mike particularly noted that around a dozen Gibault students stopped by this year – some of them bringing family members to contribute as well.

“The outpouring of support from non-Lions members is just staggering,” Mike said. “This year I would say we also had a record outpouring of community involvement of families reach out on their own or they heard through the grapevine about the event, and they volunteer their own time. They just want to help.”

Mike further punctuated his appreciation for the volunteerism as he said there were a number of those who stopped by without much of anything to do at certain parts of the event.

The Karbans also had plenty to say about what it’s like for them to be involved in Share the Feast each year, with Sarah describing how it helps her appreciate her family’s own Thanksgiving.

“It kinda makes you feel blessed,” Sarah said. “It makes you feel humbled with what you have and being able to give back to the community in some way.”

She further spoke about how the event is a perfect encapsulation of the wider Lions Club goal.

“Lions Club International, the motto is, ‘We serve,’ and Share the Feast is one of the biggest ways that our club shows how we serve our community,” Sarah said.

Mike discussed the true feeling of thanks he experiences while helping the event come together, with everyone always showing appreciation for the opportunity to really enjoy the holiday.

“There’s no shortage of thanks in the whole Thanksgiving with everyone that you serve that day,” Mike said. “Everyone is so appreciative. Everyone just loves the atmosphere, the community effect, the joy it brings to those that probably may not have had an option of a Thanksgiving dinner… having the opportunity to share and brighten their day a little bit, that’s what it’s all about in my opinion.”

Obernagel also spoke on the matter, likewise describing the joy on people’s faces as they stop by and enjoy the food.

“It feels really great to help out individuals in our community,” Obernagel said. “We deliver to those people that are housebound, older people that do not come out and the families. You can see when you deliver, the smiles, and they say, ‘Thank you.’ It’s really good.”

The Karbans and Obernagel all speaking to Share the Feast’s place as a local Thanksgiving tradition, Mike emphasized he doesn’t see it going away anytime soon – though he’d be happy to see it grow even more.

“I would say the option of stopping the event is not an option,” Mike said. “It is pretty much a staple of the club. It’s something we love to do.”