220 ATTEND COMMUNITY MEAL HERE

Conveying the spirit of the holiday, the Salvation Army hosted its 10th annual community Thanksgiving dinner Thursday afternoon.

"It just went great," said Salvation Army Capt. Elmer Trapp.

Trapp estimates that about 220 people came to eat at the Salvation Army center at 701 Good Hope. In addition, nearly 160 meals were delivered to the homes of people who could not make it to the center.

Volunteers waited on guests at the tables, bringing them dinners of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cole slaw, cranberry sauce, a dessert and coffee or tea.

The dinner is a community event, not just for the needy in the area.

There was no entertainment provided in an effort to bolster dinner conversation between the guests.

"We welcome anyone who wants to come in and sit down for dinner," Trapp said.

About 60 volunteers turned out to prepare the meal, serve the guests and help with cleanup, Trapp said.

Volunteers also showed up in vans and trucks to deliver dinners to homebound people who called in orders for meals.

"We always have a lot of volunteers that come out every year," Trapp said. "That's what makes the event so unique; there's a real spirit of giving in this community."

Despite early projections that the center would not receive enough donations, Trapp said that the Salvation Army ended up with plenty of food for Thanksgiving dinner.

"Things just kind of fall into place," Trapp said. "It always works out just fine."

The Salvation Army has begun its Christmas Tree of Lights cam~paign, its largest donation drive of the year.

This year, Trapp hopes to raise $105,000 during the drive. The money is used to finance Salvation Army efforts throughout the year.

The center gives out food baskets at Christmas to needy families in the area. The size of each basket varies according to individual families' needs.

During the last full week of every month, the Salvation Army hosts Meals For Friends, a cafeteria-style dinner for anyone in the community who wants to come in and "sit among friends and enjoy a good dinner."

The local Salvation Army dinner wasn't the only Thanksgiving-related event around the state. The homeless, poor and lonely lined up at shelters across Missouri for Thanksgiving meals, while some of the more fortunate got into the spirit of the holiday by helping out where they could.

"It's so exciting," said Bill Miller, envoy for the Salvation Army in St. Louis. "We've got about 500 guys in here right now, and about 200 or 300 at another site."

Miller said the day was turning out to be a blessing not only for the homeless, but also for the volunteers.

"We have volunteers scrubbing pans right here where I am," he said. "They just come out of the goodness of their hearts, and some of them bring their kids. This helps wake them up to like, to see how fortunate we are."

The City Union Mission, the largest shelter program in Kansas City, planned to distribute about 325 food baskets to feed about 1,600 people, said Julie Rohlfing, director of community relations.

The mission also expected to serve about 200 Thanksgiving dinners, she said.

At the Victory Mission in Springfield, more than 200 people and "too many volunteers" showed up on Thanksgiving Day, said Larry Arnold, who works at the mission.

Some information in this story was provided by The Associated Press.