Family Donates Over 120 Pies To First Responders For Thanksgiving

ORLAND PARK, IL — An early morning, hours of deliveries, and 120 pies later, local realtor Dave Shalabi and his two daughters had finally started their Thanksgiving break.

The man, born and raised in Orland Park, told Patch he and his family follow a similar tradition of giving each year. Last year, he and his daughters delivered pies to elderly family, friends and clients. The year before, they hosted a Thanksgiving party for community leaders.

This year, however, Shalabi wanted to focus on local first responders. For that, they were going to need a lot of pies.

"We did a special order at Costco and we got them baked fresh that morning," Shalabi said. "That was important that they were baked fresh."

Shalabi said his daughters have been involved in the past, but never as much as last week.

He asked the 3rd and 5th graders what they wanted to say to the police officers, firefighters and township food bank workers they would see while dropping off the goodies that Wednesday. Answers ranged from, "Thank you for keeping us safe" to more curious quips like, "What do you do if there's a fire inside the fire station?"

The group called ahead to each of the locations beforehand to see how many pies to order. After some careful math, the Shalabis settled on a number that would allow each firefighter and police officer working on Thanksgiving to be able to take home a pumpkin pie, in addition to Orland Township food bank users getting a special treat with their Thanksgiving meal.

"[My wife and I] just want to raise good people who are going to give back to society," Shalabi, who is also vice president of the District No. 135 school board, said. "It's our community. If we can’t be grateful for all of our first responders, then who else are we going to be grateful for?"

As a lifelong resident, Shalabi found it difficult to name just one favorite thing about Orland Park. In addition to its schools, parks and sense of community, he said each resident gives as much as they can, especially during the holiday season.

"This is what the season is all about," he said. "Each person contributing what they can and reciprocating the gratitude to make that sense of community."