While many celebrate Thanksgiving by focusing on what they are thankful for, volunteers Thursday around Jefferson City chose to pull out the other side of the word - giving.
Across the city, churches and nonprofit organizations offered free community meals to provide a Thanksgiving meal to those in need of food or just a friendly place to go.
Kertz Hall at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was already buzzing with excitement and busy bodies around 10:30 a.m., a half hour before their community lunch began. Hundreds of volunteers stood waiting to fill to-go boxes and plates with a mix of traditional Thanksgiving food - turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls and, of course, pie.
Angie Stegeman, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception, has helped served the meal for several years, usually bringing members of her family along.
"We've been doing this, me and family, for about three or four years now," Stegeman said. "It's just a good way to give back to the community. It's a good way to show your giving of thanks for all the people."
Her family pushes back their Thanksgiving meal to Friday or Saturday, to make sure they can be there to help. However, by volunteering together, they're not giving up any of that precious time as a family.
"It's something we can do as a family," Stegeman said. "I enjoy doing it, especially when my kids and grandkids can help me."
On Thursday, Stegeman and her family were scooping sides - the corn, green beans and yams - into foam boxes for to-go and delivery orders.
At another station, other volunteers filled boxes with the main events - turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. At the end of both tables, a troop of young girls darted back and forth, grabbing the boxes and carrying them over to the table where the meals were put into plastic bags and tied up, ready to go out.
The whole system worked like a well-oiled machine, volunteers all around the set-up doing their part to get more than 900 meals together, to be delivered or served to visitors.
Then, yet another group of volunteers was waiting to carry out the delivery orders, armed with coolers to take collections of meals out to those who weren't able to come to the church.
The atmosphere in Kertz Hall was a bit chaotic, but jovial. Everyone was happy to be there, serving the community.
Sara Echelmeyer, her husband and two young children, along with a friend, came to Immaculate Conception to volunteer as delivery drivers.
"We just always think it's great to be able to give back on a day that we're so blessed and thankful, and it's just awesome to come and help the community, and serve people that might not have the means or just not have the friends and family," Echelmeyer said, as she and her family joined the crowded line to collect delivery meals.
For Echelmeyer, being able to bring her children was an important part of the experience.
"It's so important to expose your kids to people who are less fortunate and people that don't have other people to be with on the holiday," she said.
She wasn't the only one - a lot of the volunteers at Immaculate Conception on Thursday were children, of all ages, learning the value of volunteering from their families and friends.
Cindy Schnieders, who helps organize the meal every year with husband Mike, said seeing the hundreds of volunteers come to help is "just amazing."
"It's the most heartwarming thing. This year, every time I turn around its like God just said 'We got this. We got this,'" Schnieders said.
She said knowing they're helping so many people is what makes it all worth it.
"I get the joy of knowing that we're serving people, and helping people, even if they're lonely or they're in need of just a smile or a hug," Schnieders said. "But also, these people coming in to volunteer, it means so much, too. Everybody turns into a big family.
"Somebody asked me one year, 'Are you having a Thanksgiving meal?' and I said, 'Yeah, for 900 people!'"
Later in the afternoon, local nonprofit Building Community Bridges held their first Thanksgiving meal. Although it was their first time celebrating the holiday, it's not their first time serving the community a meal, BCB Executive Director Alicia Edwards said.
"We do a community day once a month, and since it's Thanksgiving this is going to be our community day," Edwards said. "We always feed the community when we do it, and we always have it for two hours, so why not do Thanksgiving?"
All of the food - enough to feed about 150 people - was prepared and donated by the staff of BCB and their families.
"We have no problem getting rid of that much. Sometimes when there's leftovers, (BCB founder) Doug (Wright) goes outside and hollers at the people walking up and down the street," Edwards said. "There's a lot of homeless people in this area, and they're able to come and eat whatever we have."
While the adults of BCB prepared and organized the food, it was up to a group of children and teenagers to serve it to their guests.
Jason Edvall, youth activities director for BCB, brought his two children to help set up the meal.
"We try with our kids to get them involved as well," Edvall said. "Getting them out there to volunteer is a big thing."
The meal at BCB may have been a smaller affair than some, but being able to serve anyone makes it worthwhile to the group.
"Even if we have 10 or 15 people come in the door, that's what matters," Edvall said. "Many people out there, they don't have what a lot of us have and what we're thankful for in our own homes. So coming out here and doing this, it means a lot to us."
This story was updated at 12:23 p.m. Dec. 2, 2019, to correct the spelling of Cindy Schnieders' name.