Culinary School Cooks 1,000 Thanksgiving Sides
The Culinary School of Fort Worth is partnering with Catering to Love to prepare holiday side dishes for 150 foster and trafficking survivor families.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Cooking
The Culinary School of Fort Worth is partnering with Catering to Love to prepare over 1,000 Thanksgiving side dishes for 150 foster and trafficking survivor families across the Fort Worth-Dallas area. The side dishes include baked mac and cheese, green bean casserole, sage stuffing, mashed potatoes, and yeast dinner rolls.
Why it matters
The initiative aims to give families a chance to make memories together without the expectation of cooking a large, elaborate holiday meal. It is the first holiday-focused project between the two organizations, which have worked together before.
The Thanksgiving program is run by Catering to Love, which has helped feed approximately 14,000 people across 13 years. The organization fed 150 families through the program last year, the same number of families served this year.
The players
Culinary School of Fort Worth
A culinary school in Fort Worth, Texas, with hundreds of certified chefs, which is preparing the side dishes for the initiative.
Catering to Love
A Dallas-Fort Worth-area nonprofit that has run a Thanksgiving meal program for 13 years and has fed approximately 14,000 people through it.
The details
Culinary School of Fort Worth chefs will prepare the side dishes, and volunteers will handle drop-offs. Meals will be delivered to families' doors, and Catering to Love has previously faced challenges gathering kitchen staff.
Timeline
Nov. 20-25: Meals delivered to families' doors
Culture Shift
The initiative extends Catering to Love's 13-year Thanksgiving program by bringing in a culinary-school partner to produce the side dishes. It reflects a shift toward giving families shared holiday experiences rather than requiring them to cook elaborate meals themselves.
Families receiving the meals will not need to prepare a full holiday spread themselves. Volunteers are being sought to deliver meals to families between November 20 and 25.
The takeaway
Sharing a holiday meal does not have to mean one household cooks everything, and community partnerships can reduce that burden for families who need support. Organizations seeking volunteers can look to local culinary programs for both skilled labor and community involvement.
Further reading
Explore more Fort Worth cooking stories and local culinary news.
More information
Learn about the Culinary School of Fort Worth admissions information.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Fort Worth Magazine.
