Plans underway for Community Thanksgiving dinner

FORT MADISON – With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, the Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner Committee is busy preparing for another great meal.
The 2025 Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner will take place on Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, 2025 and will be carry out, delivery and dine in. The committee will once again serve meals from the Fort Madison High School at 2001 Avenue B and invite you to dine in with them from 11 am – 1 pm.  Volunteers will be needed to help deliver meals to those who are unable to get out. Deliveries will be made from 10 am – 11 am on Thanksgiving Day.  Carry out meals can be picked up at the High School between 11:00 am - 12 pm. Free-will donations are accepted as well as canned good items for the Food Pantry.
All meals will need to be ordered ahead of time by calling the Thanksgiving Hotline at 319-417-4065 beginning November 10th until November 24th.  If you’re interested in dining in, please let us know that too! The hotline is monitored by volunteers, if you don’t get through, leave a message and someone will get back to you.
“We are excited to invite community members to dine with us again. This event is all about giving our community a chance to enjoy Thanksgiving with others. Our volunteers are what help make this event so successful. We’ll be needing delivery drivers again as well as people to help on the service lines. Volunteers will also be needed on Wednesday for prep.” states Chamber Executive Director Savanna Collier.  If you’d like to volunteer, please call the Turkey Hotline at 319-417-4065 starting November 10th to sign-up.
The Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner is brought to you by the Fort Madison Area Optimist Club and the Fort Madison Area Chamber of Commerce. The committee appreciates the efforts of the greater Fort Madison businesses for sponsoring and volunteers that help make this free event happen.
Monetary donations are greatly appreciated and can be sent to “Community Thanksgiving” at 614 7th Street, Fort Madison, IA. They especially would like to thank the Fort Madison Community School District for the use of their space and the Iowa State Penitentiary for their help in the preparation of the food. It is the goal of the group to see that no one is overlooked this Thanksgiving, so getting the word out to community members in need and to those who may not have a family to share a holiday meal with is of utmost importance!