LIFE

For church's 'Turkey Man,' chemo can wait

Maureen C. Gilmer
maureen.gilmer@indystar.com

Dave Mitchell is tired. Cancer will do that to you. Chemo treatments leave him sick, his energy zapped.

But he has no time to rest. Not now.

Mitchell, 58, is the "turkey man" at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. He's responsible for roasting upward of 110 birds for the church's Thanksgiving meal for its community — both on the Far Northside and in the heart of Downtown.

"My doctor wanted me to do chemo this week, but this is my busy time. I told him it would have to wait," Mitchell said as he prepared to put the first 20 turkeys in the oven Saturday morning at the church, 100 W. 86th St.

For 18 years, Mitchell, a former chef for Eli Lilly and Co. and Purdue University, has been the man behind the meal served Thanksgiving Day to parishioners, struggling neighbors, senior citizens and the homeless.

"That first year, we cooked three turkeys and fed 37 people. Last year, we cooked 157 turkeys, and we fed close to 2,000," he said.

The single father of three adult children opened his kids' eyes to the needs of the homeless when they were in elementary school. He took them to shelters; they served holiday meals. This year on Thanksgiving, his daughter will join him at Cathedral Soup Kitchen in Downtown Indianapolis, where they will feed hundreds; his son and daughter-in-law will volunteer elsewhere in the city; another son is in the military.

The past several years have been tough on Mitchell. He lost his job and almost lost his home. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He fought it with every treatment doctors suggested. And, after two years, he beat it.

"This year, I was celebrating three years of being cancer-free. Then I got a cough."

A diagnosis on Father's Day seemed a cruel joke. Stage 4 lung cancer. Inoperable. Doctors subsequently found cancer cells in his bones.

"They gave me a year."

Mitchell is undergoing treatment, hopeful he can beat it again, but he knows the fight he's up against. The treatments are grueling.

"I'm sick every day. I don't want to live the rest of my life this way," he said.

Still, he works part time as a caregiver and he volunteers his time at St. Luke's. Friends and family have stepped in to help when he needs it. He plans to meet with his doctors and his kids after the holidays and talk about his prognosis and his options.

But first, the turkeys.

By now, they're all roasted a golden brown. "Chef Dave," as he's also known around church, spent the weekend working in St. Luke's kitchen, pausing on Sunday afternoon to catch a little of the Colts game. Teams of volunteers would come in later to carve the birds; others are in charge of beans, dressing, corn, all the traditional dishes.

Mitchell has someone shadowing him in the kitchen this year, learning the ropes. He plans to let her take the lead next year, and he hopes to be in a supporting role. Then he'll hang up his chef's hat for good. "That'll be my 20th year, and I'll step out."

Jamalyn Williamson, pastor of outreach for St. Luke's, can't imagine a Thanksgiving without Mitchell.

"He's the nucleus of it all. The way he gives so a thousand people can eat, it's really his calling in life — feeding the hungry," Williamson said. "It's quite a legacy of what it means to serve when others are more worried about trying to make Thanksgiving 'perfect' or wondering if their pants have enough elastic in them."

On Thanksgiving Day, Mitchell will arrive at the Cathedral Kitchen, 1350 N. Pennsylvania St., at 5 a.m., before most of the volunteers arrive and well before the guests.

"I'll walk through the kitchen and the dining room, and I'll pray," he said. "I'll ask God to bless the food, bless the people coming through the line, bless the volunteers."

Once the last person has been fed, hundreds of meals delivered and cleanup finished, he'll head home.

"I'll take a shower, turn off my phone and sleep for 18 hours."

Call Star reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Follow her on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer.

More information

If you would like more information about St. Luke's Thanksgiving Day meal at its Far-Northside church or at the Cathedral Soup Kitchen in Downtown Indianapolis, call (317) 846-3404.