HOUSTON – Jim McIngvale, known far and wide as "Mattress Mack," hosted a humdinger of Thanksgiving dinner for thousands of Houstonians, and he did it right smack-dab in the middle of the parking lot of Gallery Furniture on the North Freeway.
"It doesn't matter what it costs, what matters is we all have a responsibility for the well-being of the community. We are all just trying to do our part," McIngvale said.
McIngvale provided not only thousands of turkey dinners, but he also paid for about a dozen food trucks to park and provide all-comers nearly any kind of food they wanted.
Keith Sullins, owner and operator of Houston area Papa John's Pizza stores, came to the party with 5,000 pizzas.
"I said, 'How many do you want me to bring 1,000? 2,000?' He said, 'You better bring 5,000. People are coming from all over town'," Sullins said.
And they certainly did, many of them shuttled for free by Metro.
"This is what Houston is all about. This is what Texas is all about. We give whatever we can give, OK? Our time, our attention, our love, that's what we do," Dora Ramos, a volunteer, said.
The event ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thanksgiving day.
