Woman gives thanks to Northport with free Thanksgiving meal.

Mary Brown and her son Chris were busy Monday with
preparations for a free Thanksgiving meal that will be served
to the community in Northport Thursday.

Thanksgiving for Donna Brown of Northport means plenty of food, family and friends.
Now, she can add the community to the list.

Brown, whose brother Charlie owned and operated the Willowbrook restaurant and ice cream parlor in Northport for many years, has organized a community Thanksgiving Day meal that she and her family will serve from her new restaurant, The Treasure Chest, from 1-4 p.m. The Treasure Chest is located on Waukazoo Street, across from the former Woody’s Settlin’ Inn. The meal is free to anyone who wants to stop by.

Brown and her son Chris started preparing the meal on Monday.

“I’ve got about 20 to 30 people, family and friends, coming and we’ve got enough food for about 40 to 50, so we’ll be well stocked,” Brown said.

Brown is also preparing Thanksgiving Day meals for shut-ins and other folks who may not have a big meal planned for the holiday. She is working with the Leelanau Township Fire and Rescue Department to coordinate delivery of the meals from 10 a.m. to noon on Thanksgiving.

“I scheduled the deliveries so they can see most of the parades and not miss the big football game,” Brown said with a laugh.

Brown and her son chopped up onions and celery for the stuffing that will go inside the turkeys that will feed their friends and family Thursday afternoon. “I’ve got five turkeys we’ll be serving on Thanksgiving; six if you count my son,” Brown said, laughing. Chris Brown groaned and shook his head.

“I’ve heard that one before,” he said, continuing to dice up an onion.

Brown moved to Northport eight years ago after having spent the previous 20 taking care of her mother in Florida. She had visited her brother Charlie many times over the years, and helped him out at the Willowbrook.

“Charlie and I were raised in a family where there were two choices for careers: masonry or food. We both chose food,” she said.

When Charlie announced he was selling the restaurant/ice cream parlor last year, Brown started looking for other opportunities within the village. She knew the building for the Treasure Chest was for sale and she liked the owner.

Brown opened for business in May serving ice cream. She has expanded into a limited breakfast and lunch items menu. “We open at 6 a.m. for breakfast and close whenever business peters out, usually around 6:30 to 7 in the evening,” she said.

This winter she plans to renovate part of the Treasure Chest building by converting it into a commercial kitchen. Mother and son will be cooking and baking all phases of the meal on one stove.

Brown’s charity is not seasonal. She has been helping at the Northport Food Pantry since she moved to Northport eight years ago. For Thanksgiving this year to help fill a request for 76 meals, Brown donated dinner rolls, gravy and apples.

Barb Zeits, the pantry director, said with help from people like Brown boxes containing all the elements for a balanced Thanksgiving meal were sent out Monday afternoon.

“Donna has been very helpful. She has been really great and I think what she is doing for the community, the meal she is putting together, is wonderful,” Zeits said.

Donna Brown rubs a turkey with butter
and herbs in preparation for a community
dinner she's planning in Northport.

Leelanau Township Fire Chief Hugh Cook Jr. said it was only natural that members of the fire and rescue department would want to be involved with Brown’s effort. “When we heard about what she wanted to do, I think it’s the least we can do is help deliver those meals,” he said.

“They won’t be just taking food to these people then walking out the door. The delivery people are going to stop and stay a while, talk with the people they meet and share a little of themselves. What better thing is there to do on Thanksgiving?” Brown said.

The Brown family has too look back no further than three years ago to have a reason to give thanks. In 2004, Chris was working in an area of Florida that was ravaged by Hurricane Charlie. He was rebuilding a roof when he missed a step on the ladder and fell 35 feet to an asphalt parking lot.

“I don’t know what happened, I can’t remember. The rescue workers think I slid down the ladder,” Brown said. His co-worker at the site was busy clearing off the debris that had fallen on the parking lot at the time of his fall. “I remember my co-worker waking me up and I couldn’t feel anything,” he said.

Brown was paralyzed from the neck down. He couldn’t move his arms or legs for at least nine months. He underwent many tests, including X-rays and MRIs. Nothing showed why Brown was paralyzed.

“The surgeons at the hospital wanted to do surgery on me, but my doctor kept saying, ‘the tests don’t show what’s wrong,’” Brown said.

He was taking up to 30 pills a day for pain management and other ailments related to his condition.

Then one day when he rolled over in bed, found he could move his arms and legs, and the pain was gone. It turns out his coccyx, or tailbone, was just a fraction out of alignment with his spine.

“It popped back into place and everything was fine,” Brown said.

It took him 30 days to get off various medications. After that, he and his 8-year-old daughter Stormy moved to Northport to be with his mother.

Donna Brown said Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday in her family, so having the Northport community stop by for bite to eat is only natural to her. “We’re going to be cooking and eating all day. It’s what the holidays are all about,” she said.

The meal will be traditional with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green vegetable and lots of pumpkin pie. “It’s not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie,” Brown said. Other desserts include apple pie and a chocolate raspberry cream cheese cake. “Chocolate is one of my strong points,” she said.

She said her gesture is merely to give a little something back to a community that made her feel welcome since the first day she arrived. “Northport has a lot of potential. There is a great school here and the people are fantastic,” she said.