DORCHESTER -- With the help of Archbishop Richard Henning, dozens of volunteers working with Catholic Charities Boston gave hundreds of families something to be thankful for on Nov. 23.

At the Catholic Charities Yawkey Center in Dorchester, volunteers braved the cold, wind, and rain to pass out 1,000 Thanksgiving meal bags containing carrots, sweet potatoes, stuffing, onions, and all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal. Families could also choose whether to receive a frozen turkey or a $20 Stop and Shop Gift Card. The archbishop used his Spanish language skills to communicate with families receiving the meals and directed the volunteers to give each family the necessary amount of food.

"Not the nicest weather, but a lot of warmth in the heart, huh?" Archbishop Henning said as he greeted the volunteers.

Visiting the turkey giveaway is an annual tradition for the Archbishop of Boston, but for the recently-installed Archbishop Henning, it has special significance. He has made it a priority during his first weeks in Boston to travel across the archdiocese and learn about its various ministries. He received a tour of the meal distribution setup and listened as Catholic Charities Boston personnel told him about their work.

"We are excited to have him and show him his mission in the streets," Catholic Charities Boston Chairman of the Board Mark Kerwin told The Pilot.

The Yawkey Center predominantly serves working-class Hispanic, Haitian, and Cape Verdean families from Dorchester. They registered to receive the Thanksgiving meals up to a month in advance.

"Many of the families we serve are working families," Catholic Charities Boston President and CEO Kelley Tuthill told The Pilot. "They have jobs. It's just a struggle to make all the ends meet. And so, you get to the end of the week, and there's just not enough to put food on the table."

Catholic Charities Boston organized giveaways in Dorchester, South Boston, Lowell, Lynn, and Brockton on Nov. 23 and 25, distributing a total of 1,900 turkeys and 4,500 meal bags. The turkeys were donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Greater Boston Food Bank, which also donated non-perishable food items and 14,000 pounds of produce. Volunteers from Boston College, the United Way, the Boston Police Department, and several parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston helped unload, organize, pack, and give out the meals.

"Seeing the efforts that this whole team does to load all of this food into people's cars, it reminds you that we are all here together, and we can't survive without each other," BC master's student Heather Lee told The Pilot.

Final exams have made this time of year busy for Lee, but she wanted to do something to help others. She has helped distribute Thanksgiving meals in Dorchester for four years.

"It's really a beautiful reminder of what we can do with our collective organizing and collective action," she said.

The student volunteers came from BC's Liturgical Arts Program, the campus music ministry. Along with singing at Mass on campus each week, they volunteer with Catholic Charities Boston and do prison outreach at MCI Framingham.

"I firmly believe that service is part of ministry, and I think we don't do that enough as a group, so I love being able to make people's day and interact with a ton of people," BC junior and first-time volunteer Molly Wysocki told The Pilot.

Both those giving and those receiving the meals felt gratitude.

"It's us who's thankful for them," Tuthill said. "We're so grateful to be here and try to support them, and we believe at Catholic Charities that every family deserves to enjoy Thanksgiving Day with their friends, with their family, and enjoy a nutritious meal."