Whitehall (WQOW)- On Thursday, a local women's group is celebrating its 20th annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner. They formed in the early 1970's under the name Whitehall Homemakers. Now, they're operating under a different name.
A group of local women fed more than 130 hungry mouths a Thanksgiving meal to remember.
These women have known each other for decades. In fact, they are a part of a club that formed in the early 1970's, working with Trempealeau County under the name Whitehall Homemakers.
But since most of the women at that time had jobs that got in the way of attending those county meetings, they split off under another name.
"So we just ended up being the Whitehall Working Women," explains group member Kay Nelson.
This may be an all women's club, but it doesn't mean the husbands are getting out of the work.
"They've done that, well Ben has done that for 20 years," notes group member Sharon Ringstad.
"I do the pickles and the milk and the water or anything else we might have to do," smiles Sharon's husband, Ben Ringstad.
Anyone from the community is welcome to attend.
"We don't charge at all," Nelson explains. "We say it's a free meal. But if they want to donate to the food pantry, we just keep enough seed money for next year's groceries and the rest goes to buy hamburger for the food pantry."
The Whitehall Working Women's Club used to have as many as 20 members, but numbers have dwindled down to about a dozen. The group hopes the tradition continues with new members in the future.
