Thanksgiving meals prepared for needy Detroiters

Chef Max Hardy, center, of COOP Caribbean Fusion restaurant inside the Detroit Shipping Company, works with volunteer George Tinnon, left, and COOP manager Alexis Fox, right, to prepare and package up Thanksgiving meals for the needy inside the Detroit Shipping Company on Thanksgiving Day. The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association (MRLA), Detroit Restaurant & Lodging Association (DRLA) and the Detroit Shipping Company hosted their third annual Free community meal – Full Plates, Full Hearts – to support individuals and families in need. More than 350 traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinners prepared by chef Genevieve Vang of Bangkok 96 Street Food and chef Hardy and their staffs and volunteers were boxed up and distributed some of Detroit’s most at-risk populations.

Chef Genevieve Vang of Bangkok 96 Street Food, ladles gravy over turkey and stuffing while packaging up Thanksgiving meals for the needy inside the Detroit Shipping Company on Thanksgiving Day.

Chef Genevieve Vang of Bangkok 96 Street Food, upper left, and volunteers, including Devenea Jackson, center, and George Tinnon and Alexis Fox, right, package up free Thanksgiving turkey dinners inside the Detroit Shipping Company on Thanksgiving Day.

Volunteers Randy and Jennifer Walsh of St. Clair Shores package up chef-prepared Thanksgiving meals inside the Detroit Shipping Company. The couple soon hope to start their own business called Little Biscuit Brewery.

Styrofoam cartons of cake are stacked on tables inside the Detroit Shipping Company, waiting to be packaged with turkey and all the fixings and then given away to those in need.

Daryl Ransom, left, of Detroit accepts a hot chef-prepared Thanksgiving meal to-go from Jon Hartzell, one of the owners of Detroit Shipping Company, on Thanksgiving Day.

Volunteer George Tinnon, left, of Detroit and Chef Max Hardy of COOP Caribbean Fusion restaurant inside the Detroit Shipping Company, prepare and package up Thanksgiving meals for the needy on Thanksgiving Day.

Volunteer Devenea Jackson scoops up fixings for a Thanksgiving meals inside the Detroit Shipping Company on Thanksgiving Day.

Volunteers, from left, George Tinnon, Alexis Fox, Chef Max Hardy of COOP Caribbean Fusion restaurant and Devenea Jackson package up Thanksgiving meals for the needy inside the Detroit Shipping Company on Thanksgiving Day.