Turkey Ho! Giving Thanks for the Sandbox Cafe in Surf City, NJ

Turkey Ho!

Edible Skinny was LUCKY enough to attend an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner this year at the Sandbox Cafe in Surf City, NJ!!!

There we were treated to a FREE, and YES you read that right FREE Thanksgiving dinner! The Sandbox Cafe for the last three years has opened up their doors to anyone who wants a FREE dinner!

It all started in 2016 with a simple post: “Think you have no place to go for Thanksgiving dinner?  Well, you're wrong.  Head over to the Sandbox Cafe in Surf City and have a free Thanksgiving dinner from the owners and staff of the restaurant at the 14th Street and beach.”  That first year they had 40 guest attend. 

Well in the last three years their numbers have escalated!  In 2017, the second year, their number more than quadrupled to 170 guests.  In 2018 the Sandbox Cafe served 250 FREE Thanksgiving dinners!

From those who might not have family in town to those who is bank accounts might not have been large enough to make a proper Thanksgiving dinner the Sandbox Cafe welcomed their arms to all.

Our hodgepodge group of four ended up at their doors because my Mom, Letty Thomas, will be moving across country in a few weeks to California; all of the kitchen supplies had already been packed leading to a non-existent turkey dinner...

And so we were greeted by a sign on Thanksgiving Day that brought a cheerful moment of thanks:

    Everyone at the Sandbox Cafe is Our Family….
    ...A Heart Felt Welcome to Our Thanksgiving Feast
    ... As a Community and Family Relax and Enjoy!

And then we feasted, feasted, and more feasted…  Our meal consisted of a soup or salad course, a dinner full plate of turkey meat, stuffing, green beans, glaze carrots, roasted sweet potatoes, followed by an array of different dessert choices (we made the most intelligent decision and decided on one of each).

The Sandbox Cafe has evolved to be a true community adventure with each portion of the meal donated by another local restaurant and/or business.  Other local establishments that got in on the action included: Shore Fire Grill (Cornbread Stuffing), Herb, Cheryl, Armstrong and Ocean Spray (Home Cranberry Sauce), ScoJo’s (Butternut Squash), Country Kettle Fudge (Oyster Crackers), Wallys (Potatoes), Greenhouse Cafe (Vegetable Medley), Kaiser-Din Foundation (Apple and Pumpkin Pies), Wod Hod (Ice Cream), along with Lee Farms, Silveri & Sons, and Tom LoBianco of U.S. Foods.  

AND along with the serving the meal completely for FREE, the Sandbox Cafe had a donation box to help the hungry through Saint Francis Community Center’s Food Pantry.  Talk about celebrating the community in all forms!

So let’s give thanks to the Sandbox Cafe and all the great work they’ve done for the community! ;-)