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St. Augustine Catholic Church in Cleveland serves free Thanksgiving meals to thousands

The church along with Catholic Charities is anticipating giving out 15,000 meals for the holiday.

CLEVELAND — While you can come to Tremont's St. Augustine and get a meal, it's really what goes beyond that meal that makes this place so special on Thanksgiving. 

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Thanksgiving has become a tradition for many here, where dozens of volunteers serve hundreds of people.

"It's just a grateful day to come out and help people who are less fortunate than me," Iesha Holloway said. "Every Thanksgiving before I eat, prepare any food I make sure I come out and do this."

For Jeff Hercules, it's a way to give back, but it goes much deeper than that.

"My dad started taking me down here when I was younger, let's put it that way, and he passed away and I just kept coming," Hercules explained.

For Hercules and the many other volunteers, no task — even being responsible for taking out the trash — is too small to make someone else's day better.

"I've just been doing it, you know?" Hercules said. "It's good for the soul."

It's a time where people can feel close to family and friends and catch up with the founder of this whole event, Sister Corita Ambro, who has since retired but whose presence is always appreciated.

"It's my day. It fills me with joy, it really does, just to be with the poor again," Ambro told 3News. "I miss them all and to see them doing this and everything, the meals, it means everything to me. It makes my Thanksgiving."

    

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