Thanksgiving Wrap-up

It was such a joy to serve at the Plymouth Housing Apartments this Thanksgiving. Talk about a great organization and a great group of people! I enjoyed cooking and serving these fantastic folks all of my Thanksgiving favorites, and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it. Spending my day with the great people of Plymouth as well as Dean and Stacy Jones alongside their family, was the best way to spend my Thanksgiving. Below is our company blog post about the day itself.

On Thanksgiving Day several members of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR) and their immediate family helped serve a Thanksgiving meal at The Langdon & Anne Simons Senior Apartments operated by Plymouth Housing Group. The 92-unit residential community is designed for seniors and military veterans (55+). According to Housing Case Manager Claudette K. Thomas, Thanksgiving is the most anticipated event of the year. “Each year our family enjoys celebrating Thanksgiving with our neighbors in downtown Seattle,” said Stacy Jones, Vice President of RSIR. “What’s best is every year we’re helping out at a new facility thanks to the tremendous generosity of the community and the great work of Plymouth Housing Group.” Recently Plymouth Housing Group announced they successfully closed a $22 million capital campaign to renovate and building 278 additional housing units in downtown Seattle. RSIR was proud to support table captains John and Kathie Truax during this event, which raised more than $500,000 – read prior blog post here. Pictured above (left to right): John Truax, Parker Johnson, Taylor Johnson, Stacy Jones and Cassie Daughtrey (taking photo Dean Jones) Joining the Thanksgiving celebration this year was RSIR principals Dean and Stacy Jones along with their sons, Parker (18), Taylor (14) and Cole (6). Stacy’s parents John and Kathie Truax also participated (Kathie is a Plymouth Housing board member). Cassie Daughtrey, a broker with RSIR, joined as well. Cassie took the previous day off to prepare what she called “a ton of turkey, mashed potatoes and pies”. “I have so much to be thankful for,” said Cassie. “Taking a few days out to help others and enjoy their company was a great experience.” In addition to preparing a fresh pasta dish for the Thanksgiving feast, the Jones’ brought in dozens of single serving frozen meats to distribute so residents could enjoy many additional convenient meals at home.

Pictured above: Parker and Taylor Johnson cart in the goods

Pictured above: Cole Jones creates placemats for the residents out of Spongebob Squarepants stickers – several of the residents were spotted leaving with their artful placemats as gifts.

Pictured above: Residents enjoying a bounty of food and good conversation.

Pictured above: Another resident gives the universal thumbs up after sitting down with a very full plate of food.

“Team Turkey” spent the afternoon preparing the room, greeting the residents, plating the food, offering second helpings and joking around with the guests. The only hitch was the guest to drumstick ratio – a note for next year… “We had a lot of fun and the staff and residents were very appreciative,” said Dean. “It was a festive whirlwind of activity and thankfully we had Claudette to run the show – she did an awesome job coordinating everything and everyone.”

Pictured above: A table of pound cakes, pumpkin and sweet potato pies – most of which were handmade.

After serving an estimated 85 residents in the great room and several in their homes, the leftovers were boxed up in individual packages for residents to take home and enjoy the next day. What was first thought to be too much food quickly vanished in a matter of two hours. Pictured above: All smiles as the Thanksgiving crew wrapped up another festive holiday event at The Langdon & Anne Simons Senior Apartments.

Wrapping up a job well done Team Turkey posed for a quick photo. In hindsight this was the only time that John left the kitchen – first serving as primary turkey and ham carver and then chief dishwasher (yes, there were plenty of dishes). Kathie captured the sentiment best after personally thanking everyone for helping. “Giving is receiving,” she said.

For more information on how you can volunteer time or make other charitable gifts to Plymouth Housing Group visit www.plymouthhousing.org