A central Omaha woman is spending her Thanksgiving holiday serving complete turkey dinners to people experiencing homelessness in her community.
Jessica Tworek said she was inspired to organize the meal distribution after driving past the encampment near Northwest Radial Highway and Saddle Creek and felt compelled to take action.
"I'm tired of not doing anything. I'm tired of being sad about the world, so I figured I should do something about it if I could do something small," Tworek said.
Tworek approached her husband about spending their Thanksgiving handing out food, and he agreed to help. She then reached out to friends who also joined the effort.
"I asked my husband, I said, would you be cool with us hanging out, handing out food on Thanksgiving? And he was like, Yeah, sure," Tworek said.
The meals include traditional Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and gravy. Instead of pumpkin pie, Tworek chose to make pumpkin bars because they would be easier to transport.
Tworek initially set a goal of preparing 50 meals but expects to serve more people than originally planned.
"I said my goal was 50 at first, but I think it's gonna be more than that. I think I have 3 more turkeys at home to cook. I cooked 3, and I'll just keep doing as much as I can," Tworek said.
The meals will be distributed the night before Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving Day while supplies last.
Tworek said the initiative has become a community effort involving multiple volunteers.
"It's really a community effort, and I think that's really beautiful," Tworek said.
Wednesday, KMTV reporter Hannah McIlree will tag along with Tworke and her friends as they pass out meals.
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