Four years ago, my wife, Kathy, and I were facing our first Thanksgiving without our son, Jesse. Jesse had joined the Navy and was an officer on a destroyer somewhere in the Middle East. Kathy decided to do something different that Thanksgiving and hold a free dinner at the Thompson Community Center in Union for anyone and everyone. She pitched the idea to the board of directors, which included me, her and our daughter, Tera Corson. The rest of the board loved the idea and a tradition was born.

One challenge with that big, wonderful building at 51 S. Union Road is that the kitchen facilities are very limited. A commercial kitchen has been on the wish list, but with operating expenses and more pressing capital projects, they have thus far worked with what they have. Almost all the food is cooked outdoors, literally — not at other people's homes and brought in — but outside over flames. Here's what we do.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I mix up a brine and the turkeys are lowered into large drums to brine for 48 hours. About dawn on Thanksgiving morning, my son-in-law, Mark Corson, and I start the cooking. There's a big charcoal grill that gets fired up and when it's hot the turkeys go in. A couple of tents are pitched to protect from the elements and the vegetable cookers are readied. Around 8 a.m., an army of people show up to peel and wash veggies. As the veggies are readied, they go onto one of four gas cookers.

When one pot of cooked vegetables comes off, another one goes on. The process is repeated throughout the morning and around noon or a little after, the turkeys come out of the cooker. Bill and Jeanne Collins and family have picked the turkeys every year, along with some other volunteers. Usually those volunteers have been outside smelling the cooking turkeys and can't wait to give them a taste.

This is truly a community celebration. The fresh turkeys are generously donated by The Last Stop in Warren. Beth's Farm Market donates the potatoes. Other vegetables come from local gardens. Sarah Moore makes delicious rolls. Pies come in from all over the county. The local Chamber of Commerce helps out, and we've never run out of food.

This year is going to be very special because for the first time, our son Jesse will be there with his family. Hopefully there will also be some other sailors from his ship that can't get home for Thanksgiving joining us. This is a celebration of Thanksgiving and all we have to be thankful for. It is for everyone. We have couples whose kids are away. We have single folks who have no family in the area. We have widows and widowers. Anyone and everyone is welcome. We serve at 1 p.m. and consider this your invitation to join us.

• If you are planning on attending, just call 975-0352 and leave a message as to how many — no name required. This helps us know how many to plan for. And please share this and pass the word along.

• Anyone wishing to volunteer, cook or make donations to this event  can also contact us at 975-0352 and leave us a message.

Bill Packard lives in Union with his wife, Kathy. He is the founder of BPackard.com.  He is a speaker, author, small business coach and consultant, and contributor to this website.