Local restaurant hands out free Thanksgiving meals

SAGINAW (WJRT) -- (11/25/09)--One of the busiest restaurants in mid-Michigan today was a small diner in downtown Saginaw.

For four hours, anyone could come in and get a free Thanksgiving meal.

This is the third year the Savoy Grill has offered the free meals. And this year, more people were taking advantage of the generosity.

"Jobs are hard to find, it's a blessing to have somebody think about you," Terrell Sanders.

The people that were thinking of Sanders and hundreds of others were the owners of the Savoy Grill, their seven employees and another seven or eight volunteers.

"I enjoy knowing that I'm helping people out," said Jim Atwood. "It's a hard time for everyone right now."

Atwood has been a co-owner of the restaurant for three years, and during that time, each Wednesday before Thanksgiving, they have offered the free meal.

"I've lived here for 11 years, and I think it's only going to get better down here, and we are trying to promote that and let people know its OK to come downtown," Atwood said.

Rick Roberts is volunteering his time. He is a professor at Saginaw Valley State University.

"We have a lot of organizations around that do this, but this is the only public one," he said. "I mean, they are taking this right out of their pocket as a thank you to the community."

And those who got the free meal were truly thankful.

When the Savoy started the free pre-Thanksgiving meals, businesses and individuals started donating turkeys and other fixings for the dinners.

Neil Thomas will worry later about what he will eat on Thanksgiving, but for now, he says he feels like a king.

The Savoy handed out about 370 free meals in just four hours.

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