True Chesapeake Oyster Co. Helping To Prepare Bea Gaddy Family Center's Annual Thanksgiving Meal
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's the sizzle inside a kitchen we all love to hear on the fourth Thursday of November.
True Chesapeake Oyster Co. doesn't have any of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings on its menu, but on Monday, they're cooking for an effort that's bigger than them.
Thiru Vignarajah, the Baltimore City mayoral candidate, has decided to help out.
"True Chesapeake and Local Oyster were two restaurants who got hit hard during the pandemic, but they were prepared to step up because they know how hard it's been," he said
The Bea Gaddy Family Center is the recipient of all this hard work, including the slicing and dicing of the side dishes to feed 2,000 people in need. The nonprofit doesn't have the kitchen space like years past because of COVID, so they reached out for help, even getting refrigerated trucks.
"This year, because of the supply chain and everything else, they couldn't get the donations they traditionally did," said Vignarajah. "JJ McDonnell, who's a partner of True Chesapeake and Local Oyster, stepped up to make sure they had refrigerated trucks to transport food to the giveaway locations."
Nick Schauman, chef at True Chesapeake, recalled the history of Bea Gaddy's charitable work.
"I read last night it was 1981, Bea Gaddy won $290 off a 50-cent lottery ticket, and that's the money she used to pay for the first Thanksgiving meal," he said to WJZ while cutting celery.
It's an organization that's given so much to our community, and now the community is repaying the favor.
Vignarajah adds more.
"That is a tradition that defines so much of Baltimore. We learned it from our parents and grandparents and it continues in kitchens like this and frankly places all across Baltimore," said Vignarajah.
"It smells like Grandma's house," Schauman said while stirring up onions. "It smells like Bea Gaddy's house."
Bea Gaddy's daughter, Cynthia, has taken over the operation since her mother died in 2001. They've promoted and maintained the vision for years. With everything Baltimore has been through, that vision can be seen loud and clear.