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Dallas homeless shelter attempts to set world record for National Spaghetti Day

People stand behind a food service counter covered in plates of spaghetti
Courtesy
Union Gospel Mission staff and volunteers serve plates of spaghetti on Thursday for National Spaghetti Day.

A Dallas homeless shelter on Thursday tried to set a world record for the most spaghetti served in one day.

Union Gospel Mission Dallas aimed to feed more than 1,000 people on National Spaghetti Day – and by mid-afternoon was nearing its goal. While it’s unknown if the mission did set any records, Pastor Bruce Butler said the event was a great way to bring awareness to Dallas’s growing homeless problem.

“It could be you if we just have, you know, a bad period of time or we lose a job or our house is burnt or something,” he said. “It's not always someone that's on drugs and alcohol. Times have just been tough for everybody in the last several years.”

He says the mission fed about 5,000 people last year — 40% more than the year before.

Juan Salinas II is currently studying journalism at UT-Arlington. He is a transfer student from TCC, where he worked at the student newspaper, The Collegian, and his reporting has also appeared in Central Track, D Magazine, The Shorthorn and other Texas news outlets.