BY MATT PIKE
ST. JOSEPH POST
The annual St. Joseph Mayor's thanksgiving dinner in St. Joseph will be going virtual this year.
Chief Development Officer Michelle Fagerstone of Second Harvest St Joseph says the plan was to go virtual since the beginning.
"When we started planning everything the mayor said I want to do things virtual, I don't want to gather people into the Civic Auditorium."
Instead, the event will now be aired as a television special.
"We really knew that we did not want to go through Facebook, or any of those online platforms" Fagerstone says "So we actually contacted KQ2 and began the work on making a TV special, so it's actually the mayor's Thanksgiving TV special."
Second Harvest and KQ2 have worked together to film the Mayor's thanksgiving dinner TV special that will be streamed online and broadcast on television.
Fagerstone compares the sepecial to the old Jerry Lewis Telethon's saying you'll see everything you would normally see at the Thanksgiving dinner with ceremonies and awards, and also some testimonials.
"What you're going to see is your going to get updates on all of the work that we've done pre pandemic and during the pandemic." Fagerstone says "You're going to hear about the need that still exists and is actually growing within our service territory."
The special will be broadcast on Thursday, November 12th from 11 am to Noon, and then again from 6 to 7 pm. Donations will also be taken during the show with the North American Savings Bank matching every donation up to $50,000.
Along with donations Second Harvest is also selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a ring donated by Niche of Time Jewelry. You can see the ring, and buy raffle tickets HERE. A winner for the ring will be drawn on Friday November 13th.
You will also be able to view the livestream even after it airs live, up to a couple days after the event. The livestream will not live until the day of the event, and you can view the broadcast HERE.