Durham pub celebrates Thanksgiving by giving away meals: 'Want to keep this going'
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- This Thanksgiving, ABC11 heard from North Carolinians on how they're feeling thankful.
At West 94th St. Pub in Durham, the feeling is shared as hundreds of meals were given away.
"We have a lot of people that come in, good times and bad times," owner Kerry Bryant said. "We want to share that love with those people and know that they're cared for."
Bryant said this is the first time the pub is doing a Thanksgiving giveaway. She wanted to do this two years ago, but when her mother passed away, things came to a halt.
"She passed away the week of Thanksgiving, so we weren't able to do it," Bryant said. "This year, I was like, you know what? We're going to just put it together and we're going to make it happen."
Bryant said they had originally planned to giveaway 200 meals, but after the community's response, they had 300 hot meals ready to go on Thursday.
"Everybody is just thrilled to be here," Bryant said.
Pat Srivali was one of people who showed up to celebrate his first Thanksgiving in the U.S.
"We're from Thailand," Srivali said. "This is going to be my very first Thanksgiving in this country. So we don't know much about a tradition, and then it's very nice that the community has a way to celebrate for the community."
There are diverse Thanksgiving options in Durham, where at Parizade, they've been offering plant-based holiday meals for two decades.
"Welcome to the country's largest vegetarian Thanksgiving," Dilip Barman said.
John and Deborah Hammond were among the many customers dining fowl-free.
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"We are vegan. So ... being around that community ... It's a nice thing," they said.
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