Photo by Deb Gau Dorothy Schroeder served up a side of green beans for a take-out meal that fellow volunteer Brekkyn Drietz was picking up for Ivanhoe area diners Saturday. Community organizations, 4-H members and more all worked to make Ivanhoe’s community Thanksgiving meal possible.

IVANHOE — Celebrating Thanksgiving is really a community affair in Ivanhoe.

Volunteers, community groups and businesses all come together to help serve a turkey dinner. In turn, the community meal is also a chance for people in northern Lincoln County to help feed their neighbors.

“We do this as our food drive,” said lead volunteer Beverly Wilson.

On Saturday, volunteers were busy as Ivanhoe area residents dropped off non-perishable food items for the Ivanhoe-Arco-Hendricks Area Food Shelf at the Ivanhoe VFW Hall.

After donating to the food shelf, diners gathered to talk with friends and enjoy an early Thanksgiving meal.

“Everything was delicious,” one diner told volunteers.

Ivanhoe residents Bill and Dorothy Fogelson said Saturday was their second time visiting the community Thanksgiving.

“They do a good job,” Bill Fogelson said.

“It’s kind of nice to come down and have someone cook for you,” Dorothy Fogelson said.

The community Thanksgiving meal is a tradition with a 29-year history in Ivanhoe, Wilson said. The turnout tends to be strong too, although the number of people eating at the VFW hall changes from year to year.

“Last year, we had 163 take-out (dinners), because all the farmers were still in the field,” Wilson said.

On Saturday, around that many meals had been served about an hour into the Thanksgiving dinner, volunteers said.

It takes a lot of community collaboration to organize the dinner each year, Wilson said. For example, the Ivanhoe Community Club contributed a dozen turkeys to this year’s dinner, and members of the Greenleaf and Marble Alta Vista 4-H clubs helped seat diners and box up take-out meals.

Oliver Frensko was doing a little bit of everything on Saturday, like helping carry trays to the dining tables or take-out boxes to people’s cars.

“I helped with the decorations. And I did things like put the salt and pepper (shakers) on the tables,” Frensko said.

During the dinner, Kaden Lasnetski was helping box up pumpkin dessert bars for take-out meals. He said part of what was nice about volunteering was knowing that he was giving back.

“It’s great to give back to the community,” Lasnetski said.