LEWISTOWN — Heather Knepp and her husband, Matthew, believe there’s no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than by giving back.

Which is why the Lewistown couple and other members from the Lewistown Elks Lodge took time out of their hectic holiday schedules to serve Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

“Eat, drink and be thankful!” said Knepp, one of the dinner’s organizers. Matthew is also an Elks Lodge Trustee.

“My husband and I knew there were a lot of people out there, who don’t have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving or no one to spend it with,” Knepp added.

Lodge members — including Paula Hoffman, Mike Wilson and Mark and Pam Fultz who also helped stage the event –gave them an alternative this year by serving Thanksgiving dinner for the first time at Elks Lodge, located at 229 W. Third St., Lewistown.

The lodge members seemed to enjoy hosting the holiday meal as much as the diners appreciated it.

“There were lodge members with nowhere to go, too, so we decided to open it up to the public,” Knepp explained.

About 50 diners attended the four-hour feast, which featured a meal of delicious turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, egg noodles, candied yams, salad and pumpkin pies and other desserts.

“We were hoping for a lot of family and friends, who didn’t have any place to go, didn’t want to worry about cleaning up, didn’t want to worry about where to go or what they were going to do,” Knepp added.

The event fit right in with Elks Lodge’s goal of community service. “The Elks are here to help the public anywhere we can, so we figured this would be a good place to start,” Knepp said.

The Knepps certainly enjoyed the camaraderie with the diners as they have struggled at the holidays to cope with the loss of their daughter a few years ago. “Giving back helps,” she said.

Knepp hopes perhaps a few of the diners will come back to become a member of the Elks. “We’re looking for new members,” she added. “There are a lot of good people here who are hoping to help the public any way we can.”

Other organizations also offered to prepare holiday meals on Thanksgiving Day, including the New Life Church in Burnham, and Calvary Lewistown.

Organizers said the two churches partnered to share prep work, make meals more convenient to those in need and also to increase their coverage area as both pickup and delivery were available. Between the two churches more than 700 meals were served.

“We definitely saw a need,” said Nicole Swanger, who handled publicity for the project.

Meals included a traditional turkey dinner, with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetable and pumpkin pie. Any leftovers are offered to community members.