Today’s post comes from Michael Nealis, Interactive Strategy Coordinator for Points of Light.

Last week I talked about a Thanksgiving tradition that my best friend Marc and I started a few years ago. We started getting together with our really close friends for Thanksgiving because my parents lived far away from where I was and his parents usually traveled for the holiday.

Over the years our Thanksgiving dinner has expanded in size; both in the number of guests and the amount of food. This year was the first year that the guest list ended up being fifty people, and it was the first time hosting the meal at Marc’s home instead of his parents’ house.

Misty and I were excited by the turducken.

So, with all of the firsts, we decided to add one more first to the mix. It was the first year that we decided to add an element of do-gooding to the mix.

We asked our guests to bring a donation for the Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati so we could help other people in Cincinnati enjoy the holidays as much as we do.

The turducken emerges from the oven!

Overall, the dinner was a great experience from Turducken prep to dropping off a check for $150 at the Freestore Foodbank. We learned a few lessons about hosting a lot of people, leading dinner conversations, and crowdsourcing donations for a cause.

Be prepared for things to not go as planned. Anyone that works with volunteers knows that something is eventually going to go wrong that you never thought of. We thought that we had thought of anything that could go wrong; we had a backup meal plan, fire extinguishers, we tested all of the circuit breakers, made sure there would be enough seating, food, drinks, and space for everyone to eat at.

One thing we hadn’t thought of was that Marc lives somewhere that directions include “turn off of the paved road,” that some map sites might confuse “Old State Route 133″ with “State Route 133,” and that my cell phone doesn’t get service at Marc’s house.

Lesson learned: Make sure that everyone that’s coming to your event has correct directions to the event!

Conversations can’t be forced, but they can be seeded. In addition to collecting donations, we wanted to see if we could get people talking about why were collecting the donations – why so many people in Cincinnati need to go to the food bank to get food to help feed themselves and their families. While not a lot of people talked about hunger issues directly, there was a great conversation about how kids learn to what to eat at home and in schools, and how school lunches can help to teach healthy eating habits.

Lesson learned: If you’re hosting an America’s Sunday Supper for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, your conversations might not go just how you hope. That doesn’t mean that you won’t find somewhere to start making a change in your community!

Shoot for the moon, and don’t worry if you miss. Marc and I were really excited as we looked over the final guest list. We had asked people to bring ten dollars for the Freestore Foodbank if they had the extra cash. Between not everyone being able to make it to dinner and some people being in a tight spot, we didn’t hit our goal for donations but we did collect money that’s going to help families in crisis.

Lesson learned: It was awesome to have a goal even if it may have been too ambitious. We didn’t meet our goal, but we did help the food bank to help more families. It’s important to set goals, but don’t get discouraged if you end up not being able to meet them. You can always try again, and what you do accomplish is helpful and appreciated!

Marc thinks that turducken, and helping people, are delicious.

Did you have an awesome Thanksgiving? Are you making plans for America’s Sunday Supper on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? Let us know about your plans in the comments!

All of the awesome pictures of Turduckenfest 2011 are courtesy of the great Nicholas Viltrakis, who is known to take a picture or three.