Local Group Preparing 600 Thanksgiving Meals For Oklahoma HIV/AIDS Community

An Oklahoma group is making sure people living with HIV and AIDS don’t go without a meal and the feeling of community this Thanksgiving.

Other Options, Inc. has a program called Cookie’s and Scotty’s Thanksgiving, which started many years ago with local chef Scotty Irani.

“One of his friends had recently come out and been diagnosed with AIDS, and during the holiday time didn’t have a family that was accepting for him,” Board Member David Rackley said. “So [Scotty] decided he was going to be that family.”

Scotty teamed up with Cookie Arbuckle, hence the name Cookie’s and Scotty’s Thanksgiving.

“A lot of our clients are still isolated and lonely, so this is a great time to be welcoming,” Executive Director of Other Options Cher Golding said. “Food is love. You really get to have that shared experience.”

Now, decades later, volunteers are preparing Thanksgiving meals.

“I love what the organization stands for. I love the population that they service, and for me that is just an underserved part of the community,” volunteer Jennifer Borsch said.

On Thanksgiving day the meals will be delivered to 600 clients. All they have to do is reheat the pre-prepared meals. 

“For us to do all of the leg work and just deliver this [...] takes away a lot of stress,” Golding said.

To learn about volunteer opportunities at Other Options, click here.

“Honestly I don’t feel like it is the holiday season if we aren’t volunteering with Other Options,” Borsch said.