In Mountain View, Thanksgiving 2020 marks another season of giving back.

On Nov. 23, more than a dozen neighborhood volunteers gathered at the Mountain View Community Center to distribute frozen turkeys and prepackaged food boxes as part of the Food Bank of Alaska’s annual Thanksgiving Blessing. It’s a neighborhood tradition. While the main event moved to Tikahtnu Commons this year as a pandemic precaution, Mountain View residents worked with the Food Bank to operate an outdoor, walk-up satellite site for neighbors without transportation — and then, for nine hours in freezing temperatures Monday, volunteers from Mountain View Hope Covenant Church and the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club and the Los AK Riderz car club, from across the street and up the block and beyond, unloaded vans and assembled meal kits while a steady stream of pedestrians passed through the community center parking lot. Some came to find food for their own holiday dinners; others came to pick up boxes for housebound neighbors.

“It don’t take nothing to be nice,” said Dan Maher, who pulled a sled down Peterkin Street to help a neighbor carry her meal home.

By the end of the day, neighbors had distributed and received more than 700 family-size Thanksgiving dinners.

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Next, on Nov. 26, the Mountain View Shell station plans to continue its annual Thanksgiving Day tradition, distributing free holiday lunches from 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. The event is a drive-thru this year, different than usual due to the ongoing pandemic, but the community spirit stays the same.