LOGAN – Thanksgiving, generally, is a time of gratitude, togetherness, delicious food and being with family. However, in the past few years it seems like more and more people are facing financial hardships and food insecurity issues, making a festive Thanksgiving dinner seem like a dream.
Sometimes a whole turkey and trimmings is more than some people can handle. That’s where Jamie Buttars and Cache Coffee come in.
Buttars, owner of Cache Coffee, is getting ready for his fifth free Thanksgiving dinner. He’s not only inviting family and friends, he is inviting anyone in the valley to his dinner.
For the past five years he and his wife Mindie have led the charge to feed anyone and everyone who needed a Thanksgiving meal in the valley.
Cache Coffee is offering a Free Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 23 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Cache Valley Eagles Hall located at 170 W. 900 N. in Logan.
“Last year, we served 2,500 plates of food,” he said. “We fed some of the people at a sit down location and we delivered some to families across Cache Valley.”
Some plates were delivered by Families Feeding Families. Without volunteers to deliver meals many families and individuals would not receive the turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and other tasty Thanksgiving favorites.
“We have the turkeys generously donated by Macey’s and Stone Meats in Ogden,” he said. “Firehouse Restaurant cooks the turkeys all night. They start cooking at 9 p.m. on November 22 and finish at 5 a.m. on November 23.
“Pepsi donates a ton to the community to make it all possible,” Buttars said. “Gossner’s and Schreiber’s donate the cheese.”
The donations continue to come from different organizations and volunteers come to help make it a community project.
Mindie said her husband wanted to feed people during Thanksgiving when they first opened Cache Coffee five and a half years ago.
“People tried to discourage him and told him it couldn’t be done,” she said. “He wanted to do it anyway despite people telling him it couldn’t be done, and it has turned out to be a huge thing.”
When they started, they fed about 200 people in their South Logan coffee shop. It was crowded, but they felt like it was a success. As Buttars continued doing it, people coming to their Thanksgiving Dinner kept growing.
When they have enough volunteers, they can deliver to places all over the valley.
For any who might need a Thanksgiving meal, contact Buttars by texting (435) 881-6883 by Wednesday, Nov. 22, or show up at the Cache Valley Eagles Hall.