He quietly bowed his head and prayed.

“I’m blessed with what I have,” he said. “The Salvation Army, they go out of their way to help people.”

The annual meal gave him a chance to be with others. If it wasn’t available, his day would be greatly different.

“I’d be trying to find friends to be with,” he said. “I usually cook at home.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Hope Marsh, 9, of Fort Dodge, carries a guest’s turkey dinner to their table for them Thursday morning at the Fort Dodge Salvation Army Temple. Marsh, along with her siblings and parents, were among the many volunteers who helped serve meals.

In the kitchen, Jessica Harvey, of Fort Dodge, found herself serving green beans.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she said.

Volunteering is important to her.

“I just want to help out and do something good,” she said.

Hope Marsh, 9, of Fort Dodge, is on her second year of helping out at the Thanksgiving dinner.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Ken Froh, of Fort Dodge, at left, along with LaVon and Arlis Barkmeier, enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in the showroom at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota Thursday afternoon.

“I like serving,” she said.

In addition to getting to help serve, and eat, the meal, she also gets another dinner Friday.

“Tomorrow I’m going to celebrate with my family,” she said.

Her mom, Jennifer Marsh, made sure her whole family was involved, Her husband, Bruce, along with twins Ella and Steven Marsh, 5, came along to help.

“There’s always places that you can find to enjoy the holiday even if it’s not your own, everyone wants to share the holiday and it’s more fun to spend it with others,” Marsh said. “Plus, they love serving people.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Shannon Onstank, of Fort Dodge, was among the Iowa Central Community College Culinary Arts students who helped prepare the Thanksgiving meal served at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota Thursday.

Dale Coleman, of Fort Dodge, would have had a much simpler meal Thursday.

“I’d be at home eating grilled cheese,” he said. “That’s my specialty.”

He’s grateful to have a place to go instead.

“We’re lucky to have a Salvation Army here in town.” he said.

Salvation Army Cpt. Rick Hamelund said he was expected to serve between 300 and 350 people Thursday. That includes meals delivered to the community.

The temple serves about a third of that on a daily basis.

“We feed five times a week,” Hamelund said. “We get 115 to 180 a day depending on the time of the month.”

It tends to increase toward the end of the month.

“People run out of funds,” he said.

The temple also has a food pantry. He said that on average, they see eight to 12 people a day.

“One day we had 22 people in a two hour period,” he said.

While he had no problem getting plenty of volunteers for the Thanksgiving meal, the daily needs of those they serve still continue.

“Need knows no season,” he said.

Geraldine Anderson, of Fort Dodge, got an added bonus with her Thanksgiving dinner at the annual Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota Thanksgiving dinner.

Dealership owner Casey Johnson came by her table and serenaded her with a short song.

“That’s the first time,” she said. “I’m usually trying to sing to them.”

The annual event gives many a chance to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner, Johnson said that he was expecting to provide between 1,600 and 1,700 meals this year.

“We already had 500 requests for delivery,” he said. “We had another 200 this morning.”

Johnson began the event nine years ago. The idea was born after he had finished Thanksgiving dinner at home with his family.

“I said, let’s do something different,” he said. “Let’s try a meal in our showroom, we had about 300 the first year.”

The event has since grown in size and the family has since partnered with the Iowa Central Community College Culinary Arts program whose students prepare the meal.

It also takes a lot of volunteers.

“Every year,” he said, “A hundred plus volunteers just show up, they’re not even asked, they just magically show up.”

The meal brings in guests from not only Fort Dodge, but surrounding communities as well, Johnson said he’s seeing people from Eagle Grove, Algona and Webster City.

One of the many volunteers that help make the event possible is Dr. Richard Votta, of Fort Dodge.

He’s jokingly called “The Pie Man.”

“This has been my job for about six years,” he said.

He can be seen making sure that the pie slices are just so Perhaps one could say the pediatrician applies surgical precision to the process.

“I cut the pies into nice even pieces,” he said. “Then I make sure they’re placed on the plates perfectly symmetrically and the whipped cream is perfectly centered, not everybody knows how to measure a dollop.”

Well, maybe somebody does, one of his fellow volunteers spoke up.

“It’s a tablespoon,” they said.

The event gave Ken Froh, of Fort Dodge, along with LaVon and Arlis Barkmeier, of Fort Dodge, a chance to eat a meal at one of the tables usually used by Fort Dodge Ford Toyota’s sales staff to sit and visit with potential car buyers at.

For Froh, who’s currently trying to find permanent housing, it was a chance to have a meal he might not otherwise have had.

“I’d be in a motel room watching TV,” he said.

For the Barkmeiers, it was a way to still have Thanksgiving without their family members who live in Boston and Florida.

“We would be home alone with each other,” LaVon Barkmeier said. “We appreciate coming out and having a delicious meal.”

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