There will be food aplenty, but volunteers are still needed to operate the 23rd annual Thanksgiving meal at the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen.

The LINK Community Thanksgiving Dinner brings the community and families together, said Dianne Morgan, LINK coordinator.

About 100 volunteers are needed to help with the Thanksgiving meal, which will be served from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Nov. 22. in the basement of First Christian Church, 221 W. 10th St. The meal serves about 250 people.

The Community Mercantile Co-op donated 32 turkeys, but 15 of them were spoiled in a broken freezer, Morgan said. She said 15 more were donated by an anonymous person. The turkeys will be cooked by Maceli’s, 1031 N.H., and carved the day before Thanksgiving.

Gerry Colle, 55, a butcher, has been carving turkeys for LINK since the meal began in 1985. He started by himself and then recruited his family to help. His daughters Vikki Collie-Akers, 28, and Sara Harper, 27, have been helping since they were in grade school.

“I think everybody gets back more from helping the community than what they give,” he said.

Most of the food is prepared the day before in the basement of St. John’s Catholic Church. Terry Connolly, LINK and St. John’s Thanksgiving meal coordinator, said the food will be prepared from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Half of the food is transferred to LINK and half is packaged and delivered to homebound people in Lawrence and surrounding cities, including Eudora, Lecompton, Baldwin and Lenexa.

“Thanksgiving is such a family tradition and the group of people we serve who are homeless, poor, lonely, hungry, you name it, want to be with people, and LINK is the perfect place to do that because everyone’s welcome,” Morgan said. “We do welcome everyone, we have plenty of food for everybody.”

Volunteers may call Connolly beginning Wednesday at 865-3985.