In the Denver Rescue Mission’s 132 years of service, its Thanksgiving events have taken many different shapes. That includes 30 years of Thanksgiving Banquet in a Box, or ‘T-bib’ as the group calls it, where the organization hands out Thanksgiving meals for entire 8-10 person families in a box. This year’s event was held at Empower Field.

For almost as long as T-bib’s existence, Sen. John Hickenlooper has found himself volunteering with the group for the holiday, estimating that this year’s banquet at the group’s Lawrence St. location was his twentieth.

“It inspires me. I worked hard my whole life, but I got a lot of breaks. Some of these folks don’t get a lot of breaks. It inspires me to do more… Everybody in here is somebody’s son, brother, daughter,” Sen. Hickenlooper told the Denver Gazette.

Hickenlooper, who was also joined by Gov. Jared Polis and dozens of staff and volunteers, helped serve 537 Thanksgiving meals throughout the event. Denver Rescue Mission staff estimated another 600 individuals would show up for food at their North Denver location today as well.

“The whole point of this is to provide a level of hope to individuals experiencing homelessness,” Stephen Hinkel with the Denver Rescue Mission said.