The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner observes its 30th this week

The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner, which feeds about 25,000 diners annually, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

“I am so honored and grateful for people’s generosity year after year,” says Patricia Jimenez, daughter of the late Mexican food mogul Raul Jimenez, who founded the annual holiday event.

Since 1997, Patricia Jimenez has been the event chairwoman of the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner, which offers free holiday meals to senior citizens and others who make their way to the Convention Center.

As she says, “No one is turned away. Everyone is welcome.”

About 450 turkeys and more than 1,800 pounds of dressing are required to feed the thousands of diners expected to attend the holiday event each year.

Hundreds of volunteers have donated their time and money to keep the event going. Response has been so overwhelming that shifts for volunteer workers are often filled within days of their posting.

“It’s really humbling that people haven’t forgotten us,” says  Jimenez, who’s been involved with the dinners since she was a child.

“I’ve never known any other Thanksgiving,” she said. “Being at home with a few people and watching the game, I wouldn’t know how to do that.”

Jimenez, who took charge of the annual dinner a year before her father died, says she continues to work on the annual event to honor her father’s memory and to keep his beloved project going.