This year marks the 7th year for the Jerry Lewis' McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Dinner, which was started in 1989 by the Chester Carey Family.

The Jerry Lewis' McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Dinner will be held on Thursday, Nov. 24 from 11a.m. to 2p.m. at the Lima Veteran's Memorial Civic and Convention Center.

Lewis says, "Each year the dinner continues to grow, a great deal of which is due to the economy. We know that now, more than ever, it is important to have a place for people to eat and fellowship on a special day like Thanksgiving."

The dinner will include the traditional Thanksgiving fixings, including turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and more.

Enough food will be prepared to feed 2,500 guests. More than 800 pounds of turkey, 800 pounds of mashed potatoes, 540 pounds of stuffing, 300 pounds of gravy, more than 200 pies and 24 pounds of whipped cream will be prepared that day.

The dinner is free and open to the public, everyone is welcome.
In addition to the dinner, there will be clothing and grocery giveaways. Only Believe Ministries in Botkins will bring a school bus filled with clothing. Guests will be able to take with them any needed clothing items including pants, shirts, shoes, coats and hats.

There will again be a grocery bag giveaway for guests. Last year, each guest was able to take home five bags of groceries in addition to the hot meal they received at the Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

"Our goal is not to just feed someone for one meal, but to provide them with enough food for several meals. We are able to do this year after year thanks to our many community partners," says Lewis.

The grocery giveaway is made possible through the generous donations of many local organizations including Stite's Grocery, Monsanto Ag and the Boy Scouts of Allen County.

The Boy Scouts are currently participating in a door-to-door collection throughout Allen County. In addition, area residents can drop off non- perishable food items during business hours to the Scout Shop located at 752 W. Robb Ave. in Lima.

Maverick Media and Save-A-Lot Food Stores have also teamed up again this year for a Cram The Van event to collect items for the Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

Various Maverick Media radio stations will be at the three Save-A-Lot Food Stores in Lima, on Cole and Robb, Bellefontaine East, and Vine and Elizabeth, on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 21-22.

For every $3 donation that a customer adds to his bill, one bag of groceries will be donated to the Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

Free transportation to and from the event will be provided if needed. RTA will have one bus running from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to transport people to and from the dinner and the following locations: Pilgrim Place Apartments, The Towers Apartments, Fourth Street Apartments, Furl Williams Apartments, Lima West Apartments, and up and down Brower Road.

"Year after year we continue to be amazed at the community's willingness to give up their own Thanksgiving to serve one another," says Lewis.

"At this time we have plenty of volunteers for the 2011 dinner. We are currently taking names for volunteers for the 2012 Jerry Lewis' McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Dinner," he added.

For more information about the Jerry Lewis' McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Dinner or to sign up to volunteer for the 2012 dinner, call 419-225-5916.

McDonald's franchisee, Jerry Lewis, started in the McDonald's business as a Manager Trainee in Zanesville, Ohio more than 30 years ago. Today he owns and operates 17 McDonald's Restaurants employing more than 1,000 persons in Lima, Delphos, Van Wert, Beaverdam, Bluffton, Ada, Ottawa, Hicksville Carey and Upper Sandusky.

Lewis said that he believes in giving back to the communities in which he does business and supporting a variety of worthy causes.