By Sadie Hunter
It’s been more than three decades since Nancy Chance organized and served her first Thanksgiving Day Dinner for those in need or without a place to go for the holiday, and the tradition has only grown since.
Chance, the founder and executive director of Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County, attributes a seemingly odd and heartwarming experience in her childhood as the inspiration for the work she does today.
“I was four years old. My grandpa owned a cabinet shop right down by the Logan Street Bridge where the judicial building is, right at that north corner, where it touches the bridge. The trains used to come through eight times a day. One day at the shop … I just happened to look down, and I saw these people jumping off the train. I asked my grandpa what they were doing, and he explained to me that they were looking for work.”
Chance said the men were traveling cross-country, wiring money back to their families, “and that’s how they were surviving during this post-depression and World War II era.”
Chance took sandwiches to the men she saw jumping off the trains for two years until she started school.
“Sometimes at night I can close my eyes and see those faces, and I can always remember a lot of the stories they told me about their families and where they were from,” Chance said. “They’d show me pictures of their kids. It was very heart wrenching, and that I think, compelled me from an early age to be sensitive about people. Period.”
Today, Chance says she has seen the need for assistance in the county growing exponentially among those living in poverty and those struggling to stay categorized as middle class.
“I started the Thanksgiving Day dinner 35 years ago in 1980, and Good Samaritan the same year,” Chance said. “The strong network that we now have started in ’94, which was actually the Good Samaritan Network. We started getting all the agencies and pantries all circled.”
Chance said in the first year the organization began offering assistance in 1980, 397 clients were served. In 2014, she said GSN assisted 27,900 people. More than 28,000 will be served this year during holiday assistance events.
“Now what that means is, are they all poor poor? No. They’re middle class, on the cusp of falling into first-generational poverty unless somebody helps them,” Chance said. “They know by the end of the year they’re going to not have enough for Christmas, and we’re not talking about a big Christmas. We’re talking about three clothing (items), three toys, socks and underwear, a generous food basket and all the used clothing they want.”
Events include the Thanksgiving Assistance Distribution, free Thanksgiving Day Dinner (delivered and sit-down), Christmas Assistance Distribution and Christmas Eve Meal Delivery.
Chance said the need for programs offered by GSN are greater than many assume in the county.
“We’re the most affluent county in the state, but what do you need when you live in an affluent county? Services. Those service jobs have to be covered by somebody,” she said. “Your dry cleaners, your Jiffy Lubes, all the things that sustain our county and help us, those are the people we’re standing on top of, and those are the people that need us the most. Why not be a good neighbor?”
GSN’s Holiday Events
Thanksgiving Assistance Distribution (food)
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Nov. 21.
Where: Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St. Noblesville.
Info: To apply for assistance or to donate, visit gsnlive.org or call the GSN office at 842-2603. Applications should be as soon as possible. “If people have to work, or if there’s a problem, we make arrangements for the next week … up to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving,” Chance said.
Thanksgiving Day Dinner
When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Nov. 26.
Where: White River Christian Church, 1685 N. 10th St., Noblesville; Sheridan Middle School, 3030 W. 246th St., Sheridan; and St. Louis De Montfort Catholic Church, 11441 Hague Rd., Fishers.
Info: “It’s really for anybody that doesn’t have a place to go who wants to fellowship or wants to have some fun. Each event will have games and activities,” Chance said. More than 3,000 hot meals will be given out via delivery or sit-down locations in Noblesville, Sheridan and Fishers. For more information or to donate, visit gsnlive.org, or call the GSN office at 842-2603.
Christmas Assistance Distribution (food, clothing, toys)
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dec. 12.
Where: Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St. Noblesville.
Info: To apply for assistance or to donate, visit gsnlive.org. Applications should be completed online as soon as possible, or by calling the GSN office at 842-2603.
Christmas Eve Meal Delivery
When: Dec. 24.
Where: All over Hamilton County.
Info: For more information or to apply, visit gsnlive.org, or call the GSN office at 842-2603.
Meet Nancy Chance
- Education: Noblesville High School graduate, IUPUI graduate.
- Family: Husband, David; one son, Christopher.
- Other work: Co-founded Habitat for Humanity in Hamilton County, volunteers and works with Hamilton Co. Emergency Management, Noblesville Main Street and others.
- Awards and honors: Named as Woman of the Year (Traditional Home Magazine); Indiana Golden Hoosier Award (Lt. Governor’s Office and Family Social Services); SPEA Award; Victor Muller Achievement Award; State of Indiana Council of the Sagamore of the Wabash; Service to Mankind Award (Sertoma International); The Rose Sussman Award (Exemplary Volunteer Service to the American Red Cross); Strathmore’s WHO’S WHO; Jefferson Award Volunteer of the Year (Indianapolis Star); Clara Barton Award (American Red Cross).
