Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday that features family, food, and yes, the occasional football game.

In the spirit of the holiday, thousands of people in the Fort Dodge region gathered around tables with relatives and friends for a traditional feast on Thursday. Dining room tables throughout the area were laden with turkeys, stuffing, corn, cranberries, green bean casseroles, pies and all kinds of other delicious things.

But some of our neighbors couldn’t afford such a meal.

Perhaps some lost a job; perhaps others had been hit with unexpected and high medical bills. The result was that their financial picture didn’t include the means for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Still others were all alone for the holiday and couldn’t justify putting together a big meal.

Those factors, however, did not mean they had to miss out on Thanksgiving dinner.

Others among our neighbors volunteered their time and energy to hold a free Thanksgiving dinner in Fort Dodge for anyone who couldn’t afford one or wanted some company on the holiday.

About 17 years ago, the Johnson family — Casey, Deb, Matt, Abigail, Nick and Jordan — began holding a Thanksgiving dinner at their business, Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota.

Since that time, more than 18,000 individual Thanksgiving meals, all prepared by the culinary arts students at Iowa Central Community College, have been served.

The Johnson family and the culinary arts students came through again on Thursday.

They were joined by dozens of volunteers from throughout the community. They all worked hard to make the meal a success. Some of them got up very early on Thursday to make sure everything was done just right.

The entire effort was in the finest tradition of Iowans helping Iowans. The Messenger salutes everyone involved in preparing and serving a fine meal.

And in this season of Thanksgiving, we thank you.