Thanksgiving 2022 was coming, but Karrie Anderson was struggling to get into the spirit of the holiday. Four months earlier, her youngest son, Adam, had enlisted in the Navy soon after graduating from high school. The Rio Linda, California, mom couldn’t help worrying about the immense pressure Adam and his shipmates were feeling as nuclear engineer trainees on a base in South Carolina. With their first holiday away from family approaching, Karrie knew they were feeling homesick. Suddenly, she had an idea.
“I am going to fly to South Carolina and cook Thanksgiving dinner for Adam and any of his friends who want to come,” Karrie announced to her husband, an Army veteran. He replied, “Your baby’s fine, he doesn’t need you to cook for him.”
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But Karrie’s mind was made up. She’d host a second Thanksgiving dinner for her husband, Aron, and older son, D.J., when she returned. Thrilled, Karrie purchased her airline ticket and rented an Airbnb to hold a feast for Adam and his fellow sailors.
Whipping up joy
Karrie Anderson
Karrie loaded up three big suitcases full of pans, bakeware and pots, told Adam to spread the word of the upcoming festivities, and shared her holiday plans with other cadet parents on Facebook.
Immediately, Karrie began getting responses. The mom of one sailor, Nathan Young, was gratefully surprised by Karrie’s plans. My son was homesick, and I was missing him; it was the first holiday that we would spend apart, Carrie Young shared, and encouraged her son to attend. Soon, Karrie’s guest list reached dozens of sailors. So she decided to hold -multiple feasts over the four-day weekend.
After landing near the base, she hit the supermarket and filled her cart with turkeys, potatoes and ingredients for homemade desserts and fixings.
On Thanksgiving Day, Adam and a few others helped prepare the feast. Karrie’s heart overflowed with joy as she looked at her son and dozens of other sailors eating and laughing.
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I want all of them to know that even though they’re away from home, they all need a hug, and that we’re there supporting them, she thought. Karrie hugged many a sailor that night, and after the day was done, Nathan Young told his mom, “She reminds me of you and that hug felt like home.”
For four days, Karrie cooked traditional Thanksgiving foods, as well as lasagna, casseroles and enchiladas, feeding 80 sailors in all—many returning for multiple gatherings. And she and her husband gladly spent $1,500 of their own money on the project.
It was extremely magical to meet all of them and have them share what they were thankful for, Karrie thought, and feeling so overjoyed by the experience, decided to make this an annual tradition.
Grateful hearts
Karrie Anderson
Last year, Karrie hosted 220 young troops from the Navy and the Air Force (which is also on the base) in another weekend of festivities and will be returning again in 2024 for another memorable Thanksgiving. To help create these ongoing memories, Karrie founded Bluebirds Take Flight (BlueBirdsTakeFlight.org), a nonprofit that raises funds for dinners and sends Christmas care packages to service members who can’t come home for the holidays.
“It was hard being away from home on Thanksgiving, but we make sacrifices,” says dinner attendee Nicholas Cano. “I wasn’t going to go until my mother convinced me, and she was right. It was phenomenal.”
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Karen Perez, whose sailor son, Jacob, helped cook, says, “Karrie was able to give my son a feeling of home when he needed it most. There’s nothing like knowing your child is safe and surrounded by love. I am eternally grateful.”
Although Adam is now deployed and Karrie won’t see him this year, she still eagerly anticipates this Thanksgiving to cook for scores more sailors she hasn’t yet met and to share hugs. “I have always felt like if you were in the kitchen sharing memories, filling people’s bellies, that was a way to everyone’s heart,” she says. “They’ll always remember that.”
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