Need somewhere to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with others?

The entire community is invited to a holiday meal at Cumming First United Methodist Church from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s just a very nice time of fellowship at our church,” said lead organizer Lisa Burke.

The meal will feature a “traditional Southern Thanksgiving” menu consisting of turkey, dressing and gravy, mashed potatoes and sweet potato soufflé, said Neida Streit, the church’s director of communications.

The fare also includes: green beans; corn; rolls; cranberry sauce; and a wide range of homemade desserts.

“We usually have around 60 turkeys cooked for that day,” Streit said.

Church members and other volunteers from the community cook much of the food and deliver it to the church Wednesday or Thursday morning. Other items are prepared on site.

Streit said she usually helps make turkey and dressing for the meal on Wednesday.

“I’ve made anywhere from three to 16 turkeys and anywhere from six to 12 pans of dressing,” she said. “It just depends on whatever we need at that point.”

She said the event usually draws between 600 and 800 people to the church, and another 200 to 300 receive meal delivery.

“Between all the people cooking and bringing in food and people actually working at the church that day and delivering, we have about 200 volunteers,” Burke added.

She said she’s proud to be a part of the event.

“We have a lot of people that we deliver to every year and it’s nice to know that they can rely on us for their Thanksgiving meal,” she said.