Social Responsibility

Everything But The Turkey

Join hundreds of volunteers the week of Thanksgiving to prepare side dishes with our partners at DC Central Kitchen.

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Overview

Prepare Thanksgiving-themed dishes that will be distributed by DC Central Kitchen.

A signature program of the Edlavitch DCJCC since 1996, Everything But The Turkey (EBTT) brings together hundreds of volunteers to chop, mix, grate, and prepare thousands of servings of festive Thanksgiving dishes for people experiencing food insecurity and homelessness in the DC area in partnership with DC Central Kitchen.

The presenting sponsor of Everything But The Turkey is the Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation

2024 Impact

This year, over 750 volunteers prepared more than 13,380 servings of Thanksgiving side dishes, 177 breakfast kits, and 138 soup jars which will serve 3,660 people facing food insecurity in Washington, DC.

Whether you made soup jars, breakfast cups, laundry kits, or chopped, grated, and mixed coleslaw, green beans, yams, stuffing, apple crumble, and collards, this impact was because of you.

Fighting hunger doesn’t stop with EBTT – we have to change the way our food systems work so that fewer people have to fight a daily battle to find their next meal.

We hope you might take a few minutes to learn and take action in the following ways:

Support DC Central Kitchen’s innovative ways of creating systemic change in the food security realm.
Learn much more about hunger in both our community here and across the country from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
Donate canned goods to our close partners at SOME (So Others Might Eat) – make sure to check out their list of needed items first.
Find statistics on the specific causes and demographics of food insecurity in the DMV through the Capital Area Food Bank’s 2024 Hunger Report.

Thank you to our 2024 sponsors!

EBTT is made possible by our generous community of supporters.

Gold

Janet B. Abrams
Cozen O’Connor
Daniel Hirsch and Brenda Gruss
Nussdorf Family Foundation
Eric and Kathryn Zimmerman

Silver

Cornerstone Research
Rhea Schwartz
Tina and Albert Small, Jr.
Wealthspire Advisors

Bronze

Jonathan Edelman
Rena Gordon
Saul and Nancy Pilchen
Janis and Phillips Schiff

In-Kind Sponsors

Keany Produce
H&S Bakery

Frequently Asked Questions

Everyone! We invite volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to join us (you don’t have to be Jewish to volunteer).

There is a special program for families with children under 8, a separate shift for young professionals, and two shifts open to everyone. Some of the recipes are not recommended for children under the age of 10, but that will be indicated on the registration page.

New in 2024, we are offering two tables just for teens ages 11-18. Look under Savory Stuffing on Monday night when you are registering!

Yes. We request a tax-deductible program fee of $20 per person to offset the high costs of quality ingredients we use in all of the dishes we make during EBTT.

Please email Mira and she will help you out with registering for this program.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate walk-ins for any portion of this event. All participants must register online by the registration deadline.

We are very happy to help! Please email Mira with your needs.

Each table holds 8 people. If you would like to reserve a table, we have sponsorship opportunities available – please email Sonya for more info. Otherwise, all tickets are first-come, first-serve.

The food all goes to DC Central Kitchen, where it is cooked, plated, and sent out to community agencies that serve these meals on Thanksgiving.

Masking is optional at all EDCJCC programs. Please note that there is a large number of volunteers who attend EBTT programs and we want to send everyone off to their Thanksgiving holidays healthy!

Yes! Your support makes it possible for this program to produce over 12,000 servings of Thanksgiving-themed dishes. Any amount helps. Give today.