Maryland Correctional Enterprises (MCE) inmate participants from the Hagerstown Meat Plant have been preparing turkeys for Baltimore’s Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving Dinner for over 30 years. Despite the pandemic, we are still doing our part to make this commendable community event happen by cooking 200 turkeys that will be distributed to those in need.
Thanksgiving 2020 will look different
More than eight months into the pandemic, many Marylanders were looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. Finally, there was something to ease this profound sense of isolation and separation that came with the pandemic. However, with COVID-19 numbers rapidly rising across the state, it’s become clear that connecting with our loved ones at a festive Thanksgiving table may not be the best idea. Instead, we are looking at yet another hurdle in this COVID-19 marathon and need to find safer ways of celebrating the holidays.
Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving dinner
The same dilemma faced the organizers of the Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving Dinner, a tradition that has been a part of Baltimore since 1981. With the health and safety of their patrons as their top priority, the traditional feast with people celebrating and gathering in one place was out of the question. So the daughters of Bea Gaddy decided to pivot their operations in order to carry on their mother’s mission to help those that are less fortunate. Their new plan will offer to-go meals for the underprivileged and home deliveries for those most in need - our thousands of seniors that have been isolated since the beginning of the pandemic.
MCE's Here to Help!
We are ready to play our part in this wonderful community event. MCE is proud that our inmates have been involved in food preparation for more than 30 years and the Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving Dinner has become such a huge tradition at our Meat Plant in Hagerstown! Year after year, our inmates are grateful for this opportunity to pay society back in such a meaningful way.
MCE’s Mission
Maryland Correctional Enterprises (MCE) is committed to changing our communities and inmates’ lives for the better. We accomplish that by providing job training and reentry resources in order to increase inmates’ employability upon release. Thanks to our highly trained workforce at various plants across the state, we have become one of the most successful prison industries in the nation. As a self-supporting agency, MCE is not a burden to taxpayers and profits are invested back in the program.
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Written By: Natalia F.