Volunteers give thanks by giving back

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - From Noon-2:00PM Thursday, you'll be able to get a hot, fresh Thanksgiving meal at the Castle of Knights on Memorial Drive in Chicopee.

It's the 22nd annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

Hundreds of volunteers have been working to prepare the meal in the kitchen since 2:00 Thursday Morning.

They will be serving more than 1,000 people in the banquet hall, and will be delivering hundreds more meals.

The volunteers tell 22News theres no better way to spend Thanksgiving Day than in the service of others.

The dinner is free and is meant for the needy, lonely or the hungry.

The banquet hall is decorated, Christmas music will be playing, and you will be eating off fine china.

It's a meal fit for a king. Here's what goes into it:

• 4,246 POUNDS OF TURKEY
• 1,100 POUNDS OF POTATOES
• 1,200 POUNDS OF SQUASH
• 100 GALLONS OF GRAVY
• 300 POUNDS OF PEAS
• 250 POUNDS OF BUTTER

The approximately 200 volunteers have been in the kitchen for most of the week making Thanksgiving meals for the Chicopee Boys & Girls Club and Kate's Kitchen.