By mid-afternoon Thursday a total of 341 people were served a free Thanksgiving meal courtesy of volunteers who spent hours and in some cases days preparing the food which ranged from turkey and candy yams to mashed potatoes, ham, pumpkin pie and cakes.

The location was the First Presbyterian Church at 113 West 5th Street.

Margaret Kilpatrick has coordinated this dinner for 17 years, but she has a lot of help. “Oh my goodness, at least 50 people helped in different ways, serving, cooking, cleanup. So we had a lot of good volunteers.” As for the dinner itself she said, “I think it went well. When we opened we had so many people here. it’s nice looking at the dining room with people in a happy mood.”

Kilpatrick stated they prepared 100 pounds of mashed potatoes and candy yams, and she prepared 14 turkeys.

Some of the meals were served at the church and others were delivered to homes in the community. Kilpatrick also confirmed she plans to put this dinner on again next year, and added she will be putting out a plea for more help.