Mike Buff says the Rotary Club of Lehigh Acres is preparing more food than they did last year for the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner because of the failing economy.

“We know there are a lot of people in the area who have lost their jobs and many have lost their homes. So we’re preparing more food for the turkey dinner and all the trimmings to be held on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, at the church hall at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, across the street from the Lehigh Acres

Wal-Mart store on Lee Blvd. The dinner is free to everyone.

Serving begins at 11:30 a.m. and continues to around 2:30 p.m. and Buff says last year’s crowd count of around 400 is expected to increase to many more people.

“So we’re preparing more food,” Buff said.

“Our Thanksgiving Dinner is open to everyone in the community. It is not just for those who are hungry, but it is for the elderly and others who live alone who have no place to go for Thanksgiving and for families who like to get together and have made it a tradition to attend the annual feast.

It takes dozens of volunteers to put on such a massive undertaking, but Buff said all the members of the Rotary Club and most of the volunteers from last year have contacted him to say they will be at the dinner to help out.

But if you want to volunteer, just show up, Buff said. There is always something to do.

Jennifer Bermudez and her family began volunteering last year and she said they will be helping out again this year.

“It’s really good for the children to become involved in something like this,” she said.

Helping out means working the long serving line, dishing out the mashed potatoes, yams, green vegetables, stuffing, turkey and gravy and more.

Youngsters hand out pies, cakes and other desserts. Many volunteers work along side of Rotarians washing dishes, pots and pans and whatever needs cleaning.

Volunteers take turns working on the serving line as the public moves down the line with their plates. When the dinner is over, volunteers and Rotarians leave the kitchen in the same clean condition it was prior to the dinner.

Buff said they are cooking 26 large turkeys this year and are cooking more of the trimmings. Cooking of the turkeys actually began today, Wednesday, very early in the morning. They use the kitchen facilities of the church. Some of the food is donated and much of it is paid for by the Rotary Club. Buff emphasized that the dinner is free to everyone, saying it is a project the Rotary Club enjoys doing every year for Lehigh Acres citizens.

Back in the kitchen today as has been the case for several years is Charlie Goehle and some of his buddies who have been cooking the big turkeys since his wife, Lisa, began the community dinners when she was the executive director of the L.A. Social Service Center. It was her plan to ask volunteers to help her to prepare a dinner for those in Lehigh who had no place to go and for those who didn’t have the money to spend for a Thanksgiving Dinner.

When the agency shut down because of the lacking of funding, the Rotary Club of Lehigh Acres picked up the project and ran with it.

The club in Lehigh is composed of around 40 men and women. Often, many of the members’ children come and work as volunteers throughout the day.

While the dinner is free, those who wish to donate may do so by dropping money in a small wishing well off the to the side when you enter the parish hall.

“But we don’t expect people to pay for their dinner. But if there are those out there who want to help the Rotary Club to pay for the food, we will appreciate their help,” Buff said.