WINDHAM – A host of local organizations are providing baskets full of turkey and trimmings as well as community dinners, giving struggling Lakes Region families in need of a hearty Thanksgiving meal plenty to be thankful for this holiday season.

All around Sebago Lake, caring residents are banding together once again to provide the holiday meals free of charge. In some communities, families can request baskets, and in others they can break bread with their fellow residents in a community feast.

In Windham, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church has provided Thanksgiving baskets for more than 20 years. This year, church members and children in a spiritual formation class spent last Sunday morning hand-packing boxes for 115 meals, including turkeys or vouchers to local supermarkets for turkeys. They were later delivered to food pantries in Windham, Casco and Raymond for distribution.

According to coordinator Anita Krieg, one of several members heading up the efforts from the church’s Social Justice and Peace Commission, the work is well worth it.

“It is a wonderful project as we get so many from our parish as well as the community involved,” she said. “It is an activity that helps those in need and shows what a generous and caring community we live in.”

Our Lady worked with Hannaford and Shaw’s supermarkets to obtain the food. Shaw’s allowed the group to hold a food drive Nov. 4, during which church members had a unique encounter with one of the intended recipients of a Thanksgiving basket.

“A couple of our food collectors at the food drive at Shaw’s had a woman who said she was receiving one of the baskets. When she came out of the store she donated an item. I thought that was a neat. She is one of the needy but still wanted to help,” Krieg said.

Krieg said demand is up slightly this year. Two of the pantries Our Lady provides dinners for requested 10 more dinners. But Krieg said the church is happy to oblige.

“We know there are so many needy people out in the community and that’s one of the missions of our church is to help those that are in need,” she said.

The Windham Food Pantry, which received dinners from Our Lady, planned to hand out a grand total of 157 Thanksgiving baskets on Thursday, Nov. 15, pantry manager Madeline Roberts said.

Since Good Shepherd Food-Bank decided to forgo distributing turkeys this year for several reasons, Roberts had to find turkey donations elsewhere. Many came from Our Lady, and she bought many others at Shaw’s and Hannaford. The remaining amount was provided by John Scott, owner of Scott’s Disposal Service in Windham, who donated 34 turkeys and six smoked pork shoulder roasts, Roberts said.

“The community overall just jumped in there and helped us again, which we appreciate very much,” the longtime director said.

At the table

Two Lakes Region communities – Naples and New Gloucester – are offering community dinners for those needing a helpful hand or some company on Thanksgiving Day.

For the third year in a row, Crosswalk Community Outreach in Naples is holding a community feast in the Naples Town Hall gymnasium. Organizer Joanna Moore says the meal will feature everything a traditional Thanksgiving meal should, plus musical entertainment by local musician Dave Sturdivant.

“We seat people family-style. It’s all decorated, and it just feels like the first Thanksgiving when your community all comes together. It’s fun and very enjoyable,” Moore said.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. for socializing and appetizers. Dinner starts promptly at noon.

“We put the word out for donations and community members stepped up to the plate and bought everything,” Moore said. “We’re very excited. Everyone’s doing their part.”

Moore said the meal is for those who can’t afford to put on a lavish feast and is also “a great alternative for people who don’t want to cook, or they don’t have family or maybe they are away and can’t get to their family. So, they can just come and have a beautiful meal prepared by their community,” she said.

Moore said diners should RSVP by Monday, Nov. 19, at crosswalkoutreach@yahoo.com or 615-3226.

Another Thanksgiving meal provided free of charge takes place at the New Gloucester Bible Church, on Route 100 near the intersection of Gloucester Hill Road. The dinner, scheduled for noon-2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, is the brainchild of longtime New Gloucester resident Christie Grant.

“Five years ago, I called my husband and said, ‘What do you think of having a Thanksgiving dinner for people in need?’ And he said, ‘Sure, that sounds great,’” Grant recalled. “So, I called around to probably five different churches and nobody wanted to have it at their church. Well, then I decided to call Dan Michaud at the New Gloucester Bible Church and he said, ‘Sure, I’ve always wanted to do that. Come on down and I’ll show you where our kitchen is.’ So that’s how it started.”

The first year, the 40-year-old Grant and her family hosted 35 people. This year, she expects 100 diners.

“I wanted to do it because I remember one Thanksgiving, there was so much food left over and it just made me sad because I just thought there are so many people that have nothing today. And of course, a lot of people come to help me,” she said.

Her family picks up part of the costs but she also accepts donations from community members, businesses and the church. She also works through a friend who operates a Christian food pantry in Auburn.

“We do accept donations. Mario’s [Italian Restaurant in New Gloucester] donates turkeys. And anything else on top of that, Pastor Dan pays for,” Grant said.

The dinner is held at the church located at 218 Lewiston Road. Grant requests an RSVP but last-minute diners are always welcome. The church can be reached at 926-3140.

“I just plan for 100 and if there are leftovers we give them to the people after the dinner if they’re interested,” she said.

Local food pantries and civic organizations hosting Thanksgiving baskets in Standish and Gray are busy this week, as well.

Amy Russell, director of Catherine’s Cupboard based out of the Standish Town Hall, said demand has grown exponentially for food baskets.

“I’m planning for 250 baskets. Last year, we did 200. The year before that, we did 125,” Russell said, crediting the still-faltering economy. “But not only that, but on voting day, we handed out flyers for donations but we also got a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, a food pantry, I need help.’”

Those 250 families will luck out not only since Catherine’s Cupboard provides a turkey and all the trimmings, but Bon Appetit, the food service provider at Saint Joseph’s College, which partly sponsors Catherine’s Cupboard, is holding a pie-baking contest the morning of distribution day, which is Wednesday, Nov. 21. Those pies will adorn many of the 250 Thanksgiving baskets, Russell said.

“That’s always a great day. They bake apple pies and they come to Catherine’s Cupboard hot and ready to hand them out,” she said.

Russell said residents can still donate to the cause and anyone needing a Thanksgiving dinner basket can contact her at 893-7790, preferably before Wednesday, Nov. 21.

“On Wednesday we’ll be distributing 3-7 p.m. but I’ll be there at 9 a.m.,” she said. “We don’t turn anything or anyone away. They can sign up right until Wednesday. It doesn’t matter. We’ll serve them. If we run out of turkeys I’ll run to Hannaford and buy more.

Direct contact

Most donations to area food pantries allow the pantries to buy food from local supermarkets or low-cost food distribution outfits like Good Shepherd Food-Bank or Wayside Food Rescue. The donor never meets the family their money is going to help support. Not so for the Caring Community of Gray-New Gloucester, an organization that directly connects donors with recipients.

According to Christina Foster, coordinator for the six-year-old Caring Community group, the organization is providing dinners for about 90 families in Gray and New Gloucester this Thanksgiving. She said the group either links needy families with sponsors or uses money that it has raised through fundraisers during the year to pay for baskets they put together.

“We do raise monetary donations, but most of our families, at least 75 percent, are linked to sponsors, so it could be a business or it could be another family in Gray or New Gloucester who has asked to sponsor a family. The sponsor connects with the family and they coordinate getting the food to the family,” Foster said.

Foster said it’s been a successful model.

“It does give them that sense of connection and ownership of it,” she said.

Those interested in becoming a donor, or a recipient, can call Foster at 233-0828.

“The deadline for families was Nov. 1, but as long as we have the available funds, we’re not going to turn anyone away,” she said.

The parish hall at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in North Windham was buzzing with busy kids before Mass on Sunday, Nov. 11. The project at hand: filling more than 90 large banana boxes with an assortment of donated food to help the less fortunate in the community this Thanksgiving season. Each box had a checklist taped to the outside, listing an assortment of food items that Dominic Agneta and the other volunteers collected from a storage room then deposited into the box.