What looked nearly impossible just a few weeks ago became a Thanksgiving miracle in Aurora.

Madsgiving is the annual effort that prepares and delivers thousands of meals to people experiencing homelessness, seniors, and families in need. It was on the verge of collapse earlier this month. 

The longtime chefs who normally anchor the event were deployed to Jamaica to help rebuild kitchens damaged by Hurricane Melissa. Without them, organizers suddenly had no chefs and no kitchen just weeks before Thanksgiving.

Lead Pastor Dwayne Johnson of Mean Street Worship Center has helped distribute Madsgiving meals for seven years.

“At first, it started out as panic,” he said. “But then the community started coming together. Other agencies, ministries, and chefs came alongside us.”

One of the first to answer that call for help was Pesto Italiano, a new restaurant that opened in Englewood this summer. Chef Pablo had never cooked a Thanksgiving meal in his kitchen before – and certainly not at the scale Madsgiving requires.

“This was the first year we tried something like this,” he said. “We just opened in June. The first thing we wanted to do was help the community.”

Pesto Italiano donated their kitchen and their chefs, giving volunteers access to a full professional space to roast, prep, and assemble thousands of meals.

“With all the volunteers that came to help us, it was possible,” Pablo said. “We wanted to create something with love, passion, and quality – something people could enjoy the same way any family does on Thanksgiving.”

His team even improvised when dozens of turkeys arrived still on the bone and behind schedule. Pablo grilled and roasted them, finishing with a sauce of orange and rosemary. He even used pizza ovens to get the job done. 

Johnson says the scale of collaboration was unlike anything he’s seen.

The Amish community from southern Colorado also stepped in, preparing meals on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

By midday Thursday, every group Madsgiving serves had been reached: people living in cars and under bridges, seniors in assisted living, nursing home residents, and people facing hunger across the city.

What started as a call for help became one of the largest Madsgiving efforts yet, powered by strangers, volunteers, churches, restaurants, and neighbors who refused to let the tradition die.

“To the world, you’re one person,” Johnson said. “But to one person, you become the world. Today, miracles happened.”

Colorado’s gray wolves stuck a little closer to central parts of the state in late October and November, roaming into watersheds that reach metro Denver and near tribal lands to the south, according to a map released Wednesday.

The monthly Colorado Parks and Wildlife map shows the broad movements of 20 gray wolves that wear GPS collars. If an area is highlighted, that means at least one wolf was in a watershed at least one time during the time frame, according to state officials.

Between Oct. 21 and Tuesday, gray wolves traveled in watersheds that reach as far north as the Wyoming state line; as far east as Boulder, Jefferson, Adams and Broomfield counties; the northern edge of Archuleta County to the south; and Meeker in Rio Blanco County to the west.

Most wolf activity appeared to take place around the Continental Divide, with wolf movement tracked near Walden, Granby, Vail, Aspen and Gunnison.

The wolves also explored near tribal lands to the south, Parks and Wildlife officials said. The state has an agreement with the Southern Ute tribe and is working to finish a similar agreement with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe to address potential impacts of wolf reintroduction.