On Thanksgiving morning, thousands of volunteers will deploy across the Arlington area, bringing families in need turkeys, dressing and instant mashed potatoes.
Such volunteers have shown up daily during the lead-up, spending hours packing food boxes at the Mission Arlington complex.
Executive director Tillie Burgin said the continuous outpouring of support the nonprofit sees each year is representative of the city’s community.
“This community is built on unity and love, God’s love,” Burgin said as volunteers moved food boxes into trucks. “It’s just a demonstration of what God put together many years ago. He said, ‘Take care of my people,’ and that’s what we do.”
Burgin created Mission Arlington in 1986. Over the years, she has watched the organization and its Thanksgiving food drive grow and help those in Arlington and beyond.
Volunteers fill boxes with Thanksgiving food while others move the boxes for storage Nov. 22, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)
Volunteers pack boxes at the Mission Arlington complex Nov. 22, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)
Last year, the food drive resulted in over 6,000 Thanksgiving dinners delivered.
Jim Burgin, Tillie’s son and head of communications for Mission Arlington, said the amount of food delivered this year would match, if not surpass, last year’s total as food insecurity continues to grow due to prices and federal food benefit disruptions.
Boxes with Thanksgiving food fill a corner in the Mission Arlington complex Nov. 22, 2025. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)
Connecting people with food is a heightened concern as of late. The recent government shutdown led to a temporary freeze in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
Some recipients received only partial payments as the shutdown continued. On Nov. 13, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced that those enrolled in the program would begin receiving full payments the next day.
Tillie said serving people in difficult times like that can have a profound effect on the city.
“When people are given help in their time of need, they return when they can give back,” she said.
Serving up thanks
The holiday holds a special place in Taste Project’s history.
The first day the nonprofit served a meal in its Fort Worth Taste Community Restaurant was Thanksgiving of 2015.
A decade later, Arlington’s Taste Community Restaurant will serve its first Thanksgiving meals after opening in March. The pay-as-you-can restaurant has extended hours on Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., serving fresh takes on traditional Thanksgiving food.
“It’ll look like any other service. It’s just maybe a little bit busier, like any holiday,” Taste Project founder Jeff Williams said.
Post-it notes with messages of what people are thankful for sit on a window in Arlington’s Taste Community Restaurant Nov. 24. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)
The organization is still trying to get the word out, but those who show up to the central Arlington spot are supportive, he said.
“Everybody who’s come in that hasn’t known really seems to latch on to what we’re doing,” he said.
Williams’ initial goal when creating Taste Project was to help those in need of food who have a hard time using food pantries or soup kitchens, he said. Williams said some may be hesitant to reach out for help when they need it, so the restaurant provides a nonjudgmental environment, he said.
Jeff Williams, the founder of Taste Project, poses in the Taste Community Restaurant in Arlington Nov. 14. (Chris Moss | Arlington Report)
“This very much started with a literal dream that I had that I thought God was leading me to do, and moving to Arlington was the same thing,” Williams said. “It was a continuation of that dream and seeing it actually happen is pretty cool.”
If you go:
What: Thanksgiving meal at Arlington’s Taste Community Restaurant
Where: 200 N. Cooper St.
When: Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Price: Pay as you can.
Reservations: Reservations are not required but are encouraged.
Volunteer: To volunteer, click here.
Chris Moss is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@fortworthreport.org.
At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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