Garry Gill, owner of Garry’s on Pearl, welcomed about 400 people to his Thanksgiving giveaway.

As Thanksgiving arrived, people gathered at numerous sites across Tacoma this past week to give to, or receive from, their neighbors.

It started on Tuesday, Nov. 19, when the Tacoma Police Department partnered with the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance to give free turkeys and sides in drive-thru events at the Tacoma Dome, Eastside Community Center and People’s Community Center.

On Wednesday, Nov. 20, Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank held its 2024 annual Thanksgiving giveaway. Taking place during the food bank’s weekly food giveaway at the Tacoma Dome, hundreds of cars lined up for food and grocery store gift cards at this special Thanksgiving event.

With the gift cards ensuring flexibility to purchase a turkey or any other meat product of the card holder’s choice, Eloise’s provided a variety of Thanksgiving staples such as potatoes, yams, dressing, green beans, chicken or pork chops, berries, cranberry sauce, nuts, cilantro, cauliflower, melon, and more.

Tables were loaded with Thanksgiving foods, ready to be given away.

TPD also took part in supporting locations offering free Thanksgiving Day dinners with all the trimmings at Bethlehem Baptist Church, the 9th Annual Set the Table Thanksgiving Feed at The Vision Center, and full Thanksgiving meals prepared and served under the leadership of chef Shawn Tibbitts, owner of Tibbitts @ Fernhill.

Another Thanksgiving giveaway took place on Saturday, Nov. 23, at Garry’s on Pearl gas station and convenience store at 4601 N. Pearl St. For the fifth year, owner Garry Gill invited community into the parking which became a center of activity with folks helping out, including members of the Ruston Fire Department and volunteers with Charlie’s Dinosaur bringing stuffed toys for little ones.

Partnering with Macaluso’s Italian Restaurant, generous support from co-owner Laura Macaluso ensured that the day would be a success. Gill had been funding the Thanksgiving giveaway from his own pocket and donations from community, but Macaluso stepped in last year to give a sizeable sum of money and this year she contributed to half the overall costs.

“Last year things got really expensive, and we spent like $19,000. We have friends who gave $100, $200 and it was good help,” Gill said, noting that he and the Thanksgiving team are preparing for costs to jump even higher next year.

“We had about 400 20-pound turkeys, apple and pumpkin pies from Costco, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, canned beans, cranberries – basically all that was needed for a full Thanksgiving meal,” Gill said. “The community is so amazing. When people were coming in, there were tears.”

The giveaway was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. but Gill got a call that people were starting to line up at 7:30. Some of the people were new while others return year after year.

“With the love of community and really good friends, we’ve grown tremendously,” Gill said of the giveaway and his business.

Garry’s on Pearl’s low gas prices attract plenty of customers, but they also know that when they spend their money at Garry’s, they’re spending locally to support an independent business that gives back to community. People know of his business and community ethic through word of mouth and the Nextdoor app.

“Part of the reason our gas prices are so low is because we’re not Chevron or Shell paying for advertisement,” he said. “Our gas prices have been probably the cheapest in the north end of Tacoma ever.”

So many people came this year that the food ran out, but this just created another wondrous opportunity for caring in that people were sharing with each other. If someone already had a pie for Thanksgiving, they offered to give theirs from the giveaway to someone who didn’t.

“‘I have pie and I don’t need it. You can take mine.’ It was such a cool thing to see,” Gill said.

Generous donor Laura Macaluso, owner of Macaluso’s Italian Restaurant in Ruston, helps the giveaway grow each year.

He gave much thanks to Macaluso and to Charlie’s Dinosaur volunteer Ed Troyer who brought the big purple Charlie’s Dinosaur mascot with him to the delight of the children.

“Ed Troyer and his team brought about 700 stuffed toys and we didn’t have any left by the end of the day,” Gill said. “The kids were so happy taking pictures with the dinosaur.”

Gill noted that his giveaways are not limited to just Thanksgiving. In the summertime, he organizes a giveaway of backpacks filled with school supplies. This year, Gill said, it served about 300 young students.

“When we did the school drive, Ed and his team made 300 hotdogs for it, and it was phenomenal.”

Gill said he is also grateful to his friends Jamie Bisceglia and Rochelle Chorak, both of whom have been Gill’s longtime customers.

“If your customer becomes your friend, they become family,” he said.

Little ones were excited to meet the Charlie’s Dinosaur mascot.

Bisceglia called Gill “the most selfless person I have ever known” for the many ways he gives to the community whether it be backpacks for kids to giving away turkey dinners to 400 families in need.

“We have been fortunate enough to give more each year due to adding new businesses like Macaluso’s Italian Restaurant in Ruston and more friends and community members donating money, groceries and time,” she said. “His whole family supports his efforts. They bring so much love to Tacoma and we should support such great people like Garry.”

Bisceglia said that before the Thanksgiving giveaways begins each year, all the volunteers gather in a circle and Chorak leads them in prayer.

“I can only hope I can continue supporting Garry and the families in need to be able to celebrate a wonderful Thanksgiving,” Bisceglia said.

Why Gill cares for his community goes back to when he was a child growing up in India.

“We didn’t come from a well-off family or anything like that. We were a middle-class family,” he said. “When I saw people here thinking they weren’t going to have food tonight or tomorrow, I saw an opportunity.”

He learns of people’s needs by engaging with them to hear from them directly.

“A couple years ago, we had people saying they wanted to take their kids to the mall for pictures with Santa but they’re so expensive. We brought over a Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, created a whole Christmas vibe, and said come take free pictures. That was a huge hit,” Gill said, and he’s bringing it back again next month. Check with his store for date and time.

Over the years, Gill has built a reputation as someone who genuinely cares about people and the funding he invests in his community comes from the money folks spend at his business. He said the community respects what he’s doing to the point that Garry’s has never been broken into or vandalized.

“I’ve never had any issues,” he said. “People trust me as being part of this neighborhood and I feel like this is something I should be doing for my neighborhood.”

Anyone who would like to contribute to Gill’s community projects can stop by his business to make a donation or do so online at account.venmo.com/u/Guninder-Gill-1.