NANJEMOY, Md. — Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary School served its 36th annual Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Community Dinner on November 21, 2025, welcoming more than 200 Charles County seniors to a full holiday meal prepared and presented by students, staff and volunteers.
Principal Louis D’Ambrosio opened the event by recognizing the seniors who have shaped the rural Nanjemoy community along the Potomac River peninsula.
“In a world that often moves too fast, today gives us a moment to pause and appreciate what truly matters — community, connection and the people who shaped our lives for the better,” D’Ambrosio told the crowd in the school cafeteria.
“You’ve been the caregivers, the wisdom keepers, workers, builders, mentors and the guiding hands that have helped us make the Nanjemoy community and our school the warm and welcoming place that it is,” he added.
The tradition began in the late 1980s as a small classroom gathering organized by teacher Elvira Barnes, who later became a counselor at the school until her death in 2016. Retired school secretary Connie Bannister, who stepped away in 2018, continues to lead the kitchen effort each year with volunteers from Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Baptist Church Road.
Parent liaison Betty Clark and current secretary Ellen Dobry coordinated logistics, while Charles County Public Schools staff served the line and Henry E. Lackey High School JROTC cadets and students acted as table runners.
The menu featured eight roasted turkeys, six hams, 12 gallons of green beans, 50 pounds of mashed potatoes, two bushels of candied sweet potatoes, 16 pounds of macaroni and cheese, cranberry sauce, rolls and an assortment of sweet potato, pumpkin and apple pies.
Before the meal, prekindergarten-3 students performed the “Turkey Wibble” dance, kindergarten classes sang the “Thankful Song,” and the school choir delivered a set of humorous Thanksgiving numbers.
Fourth graders Kenley Behm and Micah Daniels served as emcees. Classmates Tristan Evans and Ruby Galgan led the Pledge of Allegiance, Lackey JROTC presented the colors, and the Rev. Gloria Ann Savoy of Zion Baptist Church in Welcome delivered the invocation.
Chloe Burroughs, a 2023 Lackey graduate now working as a daily substitute at Mt. Hope, volunteered at the dinner and reflected on attending the same event as an elementary student.
“I love that it’s a Mt. Hope tradition,” Burroughs said while refilling drinks.
The event remains one of the longest-running community outreach programs in southern Charles County. Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary, located at 9275 Ironsides Road, serves approximately 350 students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Nanjemoy-Potomac River area.
