There is nothing like a Thanksgiving morning to awaken hunger.
And so, in the slanting sunlight, more than 10,000 people found themselves cinched into running shoes and poised at the starting line of the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot — a race in which they could sate both their metaphorical hunger for a challenge and the more literal hunger of the less fortunate.
It was one of several altruistic activities across the city Thursday for people looking to find the true spirit of Thanksgiving behind the calorie counts. This year’s Turkey Trot, the 38th in its history and held in Washington Park, raised more than $250,000 to help needy families.
“I think it is so representative of who Colorado is,” said Mile High United Way chief executive Christine Benero.
But while a Thanksgiving-morning jog for a good cause might be the norm in America’s fittest state, a dash in a full- body turkey costume is not normal anywhere. And Mason Arther, Zander Barton and Forrest Barton — the Castle View high-schoolers who donned said costumes for the event — soon discovered why. By the end of the 4-mile run on a 65- degree morning, those birds were cooked.
“It was terrible,” Arther smile-grimaced.
“It was like an oven,” Zander Barton added.
Across town, on West 33rd Avenue, the heat stayed in the kitchen, as cooks stood shoulder-to-shoulder at Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe preparing meals for the needy. A steady stream of guests filed through the dining room — itself packed to shuffling-room-only — while a queue of volunteers waited to drive meals to those in need across the city.
In all, the restaurant expected to serve about 5,000 meals.
“The only rule is they come in, they sit down and they eat,” said Rosa Linda Aguirre, the restaurant’s owner and namesake.
The tradition started when Aguirre opened her cafe 27 years ago. The economy was rough, the restaurant’s future uncertain. So Aguirre made a promise: If Rosa Linda’s was still open on Thanksgiving, she would serve a free meal to anyone who was hungry, no questions asked.
Three decades later, the tradition has grown to encompass Aguirre’s now-adult children, neighbors, friends and anyone else who wants to help.
It is, in its own way, just a regular Thanksgiving family dinner, writ large.
“This is a day to share,” Aguirre said. “This is a day to give.”
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
