Happy Thanksgiving, happy birthday
If things go as planned, Adrianne Nyberg’s 33rd birthday will be the biggest one ever.
She calls herself a turkey baby, one born on Thanksgiving.
“Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday,” Adrianne said. “You don’t have to share the turkey skin and you get one whole pumpkin pie to yourself.”
She’s talking about the crisp pieces of skin that fell off as her grandpa carved it when she was growing up in Seattle. She had dibs on them ahead of everyone else, and the pumpkin pie was her annual birthday cake.
Good memories that fuel this love for the annual holiday. But this year, Adrianne felt moved to do something different for her birthday.
She’s hoping to share it with 600 people at her and her husband’s business, Jumping Jasper.
It began with an idea a couple of weeks ago. After SNAP benefits were paused, highlighting the county’s food insecurity, Adrianne posted on Facebook about an idea for a Thanksgiving potluck.
Not originally from the area, sometimes the holidays can be lonely. They have a friendsgiving each year, but this year, she wanted to open up to help more people.
And it is personal.
“My mom hid it pretty well, but there was a short time when we were on SNAP benefits,” Adrianne said.
The holidays are about food and fellowship; love is found around a shared meal.
After the post, a local business, Power Play LLC, Nathan Brittingham’s decoration business, donated $500. And then Claudia from Café Pina reached out to offer dressing and some desserts. Followed by Barry from Emerald Greens reaching out to provide salads. Ryan from I Knead Bread is providing bread.
An inquiry led to Farbest donating 300 pounds of turkey, Hedinger Beverage donating 600 sodas, and Sanders offering to cook all the turkey.
Other volunteers came forward to help with tables and chairs and serving and setting up and donating money — any excess will go to support lunches for kids at the local schools.
“It just happened so fast,” Adrianne said. “That is really it, the amount of instant help I received. I went from, ‘Hey I have this idea’ and within three to four days, I had almost full funding from donations.”
Adrianne is looking forward to guests filling Jumping Jasper up on Thursday.
Doors open at noon and everyone is welcome until at least 4 p.m. to enjoy plates of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, salad, dressing, corn, green beans and carrots.
“Anybody can sit at our table and everybody is gonna get fed,” she said. “I am so encouraged and stoked. It highlights how much good is in the world. It is really nice to know there is an entire community backing us.”
Jumping Jasper is located at 21 South Clay Street. If you would like to help, reach out to Adrianne on Facebook.
Happy birthday.
