The homebound delivery effort for the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner extends the holiday meal service beyond the Henry B. González Convention Center. On Nov. 27, 2025, after scheduled delivery drivers had gone home, Debbie Moreno and Tracey Wright-Grabatin took 18 Thanksgiving plates to nine seniors still waiting for dinner. At about 7:30 p.m., they delivered turkey, dressing, green beans, yams, rolls and pumpkin pie.
The two women volunteered more than 60 hours during Thanksgiving week, according to San Antonio Report. Moreno, 67, and Wright-Grabatin, 60, help coordinate homebound meal deliveries for the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner, which began in 1979. Each Thanksgiving season, they set aside a week of paid vacation to help with the event.
From the Kitchen to the Loading Dock
Moreno, an executive assistant at Wells Fargo, began volunteering in the dinner's kitchen more than 20 years ago and later took on logistics. She brought family members into the effort, including a grandchild and daughter-in-law, and recruited Wright-Grabatin, who has volunteered for nearly 20 years. The pair coordinate holiday deliveries from the Sunday before Thanksgiving through the holiday itself.
The work calls for long shifts: volunteers typically start at 6:30 a.m. and finish around 7 p.m.; on Thanksgiving Day, the day starts at 5:30 a.m. The pair organize three driver loading stations, recruit volunteer drivers, take delivery orders and review lists. “It's like 25,000 steps a day all over the convention center,” Wright-Grabatin told the outlet.
Scrambling When Drivers Don't Show
The homebound deliveries require 350 drivers, Wright-Grabatin said, and the coordinators have a backup plan for scheduled drivers who do not arrive. That contingency was used on the evening Moreno and Wright-Grabatin made the final deliveries themselves. One stop was Woodlawn Pines, an income-restricted senior housing community on West Ashby Place.
Rose Reyes, CEO of King's Compassion, which serves homebound seniors, said the women went beyond expectations to ensure no one was left without a meal. Homebound Thanksgiving deliveries have increased, rising from 3,752 four years before 2026 to 4,925 in 2025, according to figures from Moreno cited by the same report. Organizers were planning about 5,000 deliveries for 2026.
A Growing Need Across San Antonio
The scale of the broader effort has climbed too. Last year the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner served 29,000 meals total, including 4,000 additional meals attributed to a rise in unhoused seniors, per the same report. The event typically provides more than 25,000 meals annually to seniors and people in need, and organizers expected the 2026 dinner to serve more than 34,000 turkey dinners to San Antonio-area guests, according to TPR. More than 4,000 volunteers help pull off the event each year, TPR reported.
The 47th annual dinner was set for Nov. 26, 2026, at the Henry B. González Convention Center, with doors opening at 9 a.m. An all-faith worship service was scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by food service, entertainment and dancing from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Since 1979, the gathering has welcomed elderly residents, people experiencing homelessness and struggling families alike.
From a founding goal to year-round support
The dinner's organizers say Raul Jimenez established the event in 1979 with the goal of feeding 100 elderly and less-fortunate people for Thanksgiving, according to the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner. The founding goal describes the event's beginnings, while its present-day holiday service has grown to reach thousands. The Thanksgiving delivery program sits alongside year-round meal services for older adults. The Alamo Area Council of Governments lists hot lunches and home-delivered meals coordinated with community partners among its Area Agency on Aging services. Meals on Wheels San Antonio says older adults in Bexar and listed surrounding counties may qualify for home-delivered meals if they have difficulty leaving home, cannot cook for themselves and lack outside support.
San Antonio's homebound meal push isn't the only one keeping seniors from spending the holiday alone. Meals on Wheels San Antonio said it planned to deliver 2,200 Thanksgiving meals to older and disabled neighbors, according to Meals on Wheels San Antonio. The organization said a $9 donation helps provide a fresh, nutritious meal to a senior in need.
