Joe and Marina Morgan of Broadway Joe’s Restaurant in Muldrow have already got the turkeys cooking, and plan on feeding everyone who wishes to eat but not cook on Thanksgiving day. This is the Morgan’s 11th annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner.
The Morgan family is known for their famous Thanksgiving Day meal that is made and served to the community in honor of their mother, Pauline Morgan.
“She was a great woman,” Joe Morgan said when asked about his mother. “She never had a bad day and always made the best out of very little.”
As the family carries on the vital lesson of “always help others when you can,” which was taught to them by their mother, Pauline Morgan’s four boys and three girls are happy to mark the 11th year of what has become a family tradition — serving a Thanksgiving Day meal to the public at no charge.
“The families get a free meal and if they would like, they can donate, but we don’t push it because some people don’t have the money,” Morgan said.
Each year the number of people served throughout the three-hour dinner grows as people from all over the county come out to see the Morgans and enjoy the home-cooked holiday meal.
“The first year we did this we put out flyers that the dinner was for needy families,” Morgan said. “Well, that didn’t work because no one showed up.”
After the no-show dinner the Morgans decided to extend their Thanksgiving hospitality to those in the community who just didn’t feel like cooking all day but wanted to enjoy a good meal as well as the company of others from the area.
“We served over 300 meals last year,” Morgan said.
The Morgans credit the many various food vendors used by the restaurant for helping with the cost of the dinner through the many donations of products received.
“I can just ask them to donate some food and they will,” he said, “They are a big help.”
Anyone who can’t make it to the restaurant won’t have to miss out since call-in orders are welcome. And for those who can’t get out to pickup an order, the Morgans will be offering delivery service.
Anyone wishing to make a money donation towards the annual holiday dinner is welcome to do so.
“Any money donated is used to help needy families in the area and to help the local school buy needed items for kids’ Christmas,” Morgan said.
Open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the Morgans extend an invitation to everyone to come to the restaurant on Shawntel Smith Boulevard.
