PRESTON – If the road to heaven is paved with pies, dinner rolls, meals for senior citizens and people low on funds, Carol Parker has a free ticket through the pearly gates.
Bailey Hess trims pie crust before filling and baking the pie on Tuesday Nov. 18, 2025.
Bailey Hess trims pie crust before filling and baking the pie on Tuesday Nov. 18, 2025.
For more than 30 years she’s been cooking meals at the Franklin County Community/Senior Center located at 64 W. 1st South in Preston. People can come into the center and get a meal two or three times a week.
For people under 60 years old they charge $8, for people over 60 there is a suggested donation of $7.
Parker’s granddaughters Angel and Bailey Hess are a big part of the operation and took over for Carol while she was recuperating from some surgeries. There are also a host of volunteers who come to help serve the meals daily.
There is a table set up where people who come in for a meal can find free canned goods to take home if they can use them.
On Wednesday they were elbows deep getting pie crusts ready for cooking while some eight turkeys were cooking in the oven.
Most years they fix Thanksgiving food boxes for local businesses and charge them to help fund the senior lunch programs.
Some years they have sold rolls and pies for the holidays they are famous to locals. They couldn’t do it this year because Carol was recuperating.
Angle Hess smooths out a pie crust on Tuesday Nov. 18, 2025.
Parker had a couple of knee replacements this year and some other issues, so the box lunch sales didn’t take place.
This year Parker and her family are opening the doors on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. They are preparing a feast for anyone who needs a meal and has no place to go.
“My son in law and I have wanted to do something like this forever, but we wanted to do it in the Salt Palace,” Parker said. “But with my health this will have to do.”
She has posted flyers throughout the county telling everyone they are opening the center and their hearts for anyone who is alone, in need, or simply looking for community to join them for lunch.
“We are cooking turkeys, hundreds of dinner rolls and 210 pies, and more,” she said. “We should have enough to feed 1,000 people. If we have anything left over, we will freeze it and serve it later.”
The turkeys are boned, rolled and tied to make it easier to serve. They are making mountains of mashed potatoes with gravy, some cheese balls and cheesecakes.
Franklin County Senior/community Center is going to be a busy place on Thanksgiving as the Carol Parker family feeds people looking for a place to eat.
Parker is no stranger to feeding large groups of people. Currently the Senior Center serves about 1,600 meals a week.
“We have six trucks with husband-and-wife teams that deliver food to seniors in the county,” she said. “Some of them get five meals a week and some only three meals a week.”
When it comes to the giving part of Thanksgiving, the Parker family understand what it’s all about.
At this point Parker has no plans to retire unless she is no longer able. She plans to continue to feed her friends in Franklin County.