By all standards, it was a great holiday.

Diners turned out in droves, volunteers were there to serve, meals were taken to shut-ins and there were even some leftovers that attendees could take home to enjoy later.

The Spirit of Oakdale Community Thanksgiving Dinner was put on Thursday, Nov. 28 at the Gene Bianchi Community Center, organized by the Oakdale Lions Club and pulled off with plenty of assistance from volunteers.

“It was amazing,” coordinator Matt Hanko of the Lions Club said. “We served somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 people.”

In addition to the diners that made their way to the Community Center, there were also an estimated 115 meals home delivered to shut-ins, courtesy of the Oakdale Police Department CAPS volunteers.

“Community Sharing also had pallets of food, four pallets that had canned goods and dry goods, packed in boxes,” Hanko explained. “Most of that went to people that came in for a meal; they could also take a box of food or ten.”

The goal for the Spirit of Oakdale has always been about bringing the community together and making sure everyone has access to a traditional holiday meal. Everyone in the community is welcome.

“We had about 30 people helping Wednesday night,” Hanko added of the prep work, with at least another 30 volunteers assisting with all facets of the dinner service on Thursday.

He said the Lions Club purchased 30 turkeys and another “90 were cooked by citizens” to help put on the meal.

“We carved up all the turkeys the night before; we also had about 300 pounds, 110 pre-seasoned turkey breasts, donated by Diestel,” Hanko said, adding that those were distributed as well.

The menu featured turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, stuffing, beverages and dessert.

“We had gadzooks of pies,” Hanko said, chuckling, with most pumpkin but some other pie varieties available as well. They were baked and donated by volunteers.

They also received an unexpected donation of several dozen decorated cookies, provided by Bree of Heavenly Homemade, which were a big hit.

And though the meal is free, Hanko said some people did make contributions, which helped the Lions Club cover the cost of putting on the community dinner.

Food left over was available for attendees to take home for a second meal while Oakdale Rescue Mission was the recipient of many turkey carcasses, said Hanko, to use for soup stock, and some leftovers were also donated there to help provide meals.

Nothing went to waste, Hanko explained, with everyone enjoying as much food as they wanted and many going home with some leftovers.

“It was awesome,” Hanko summarized of the event. “We were very happy.”