For 41 years, River of Life Christian Church has continued an annual tradition during the holiday season.

The church, once again, opened its doors Thursday morning to offer a free traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Senior Minister Frank Hibbard believes the community has come to depend on the meal each year. It is always open to anyone in the community.

“We place no criteria on anyone,” he said. “Our doors are open. Anyone who has the motivation or the desire for a meal, we will feed them.

According to Hibbard, the event started when a past minister approached member Marge Ingmire, who is still actively involved.

“The concern was for those at home alone, those who had recently lost someone, or those who had a difficult time getting out,” he explained.

Connie Kiesling, who has organized the event with Marsha Iles for the last six years, said she has been involved helping out for as long as she can remember.

According to Kiesling, there were only 66 meals served during the first year. This year, the church delivered and served over 600 meals, which was at least 100 more meals compared to last year.

“That’s a record,” she said.

Approximately 300 meals were served as deliveries before the doors even opened, Hibbard added. An additional 125 meals were carried out.

The biggest concern over the years has been the question on how the church could continue the tradition and meet the growing needs of the community.

Through the generosity of church members, Logansport Jaycees and the Cass County Roosters Club, all the food is donated. Hibbard said he can’t thank enough those who helped out with food donations and those who volunteered their time.

“Seeing the response has warmed my heart,” he said.

The church started the day off with 450 pounds of turkey to meet the needs of everyone who showed up.

Preparation work began earlier in the week. After Sunday services, volunteers vacuumed the floor, set up the tables and decorated. Others began cooking turkeys two to three days in advance.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” Hibbard said.

The church also noticed a larger number of community members wanting to help out. Hibbard said close to 30 community members volunteered this year.

He believes more people are realizing the greater need for help in the community and want to help meet the needs of others.

Kiesling feels it is important to continue offering the meal each year.

“We are a small congregation but we like to share,” she said. “We feel blessed and want to share with others.”

Hibbard said the church bases a lot of its ministries on sharing food with others.

Also serving up a free Thanksgiving meal for the fifth annual year was Riverview Wesleyan Church.

Pastor Brooks Sayer came to Logansport five years ago with his wife, Jill, and decided to start the tradition.

“We thought there had to be something we could do,” he recalled. “We have an older congregation and thought they could cook.”

During the first year, Sayer said the turnout was somewhat small. As each year passes the church members see more people stopping by.

While Sayer doesn’t keep track of the number of people served each year, he said the goal this year was to reach around 150 people. Just 30 minutes into the two-hour food service, 60 people already passed through the line. By the time it was over, close to 200 people had been.

“We were wondering if this year would be a big year for us with the way the economy has been,” Sayer said. “... We were pleasantly surprised that we surpassed our goal of 150.”

To prepare for the larger turnout, church members cooked seven 20 pound turkeys this year. In addition, volunteers helped make mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, cranberry relish, rolls and a variety of desserts.

Approximately 30 volunteers also helped serve the food. Volunteers included church members, friends of church members and people from the community.

Sayer said preparation for the dinner has become easier over the years. Jill added the help from volunteers has been tremendous.

“We have had a lot of people willing to donate both food and their time,” she said.

Sayer said it is important for the church to offer the community a place to go on Thanksgiving.

“We want to feed the community physically,” he said, “maybe they will trust us to feed them spiritually.”

Overall, Sayer said the church just wants to show the community how much it cares.

Sayer said he enjoyed one part the most about opening the doors on the holiday to the community.

“Just connecting with them,” he said. “I like to sit down at the tables and hear their stories.”

• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com