DES MOINES, Iowa- For the 40th year, hundreds of volunteers are cooking thousands of holiday meals at Chuck’s Restaurant to provide free Thanksgiving dinner to community members in need.

The first Park Community Thanksgiving Dinner was in 1984 and it took place in the basement of the Highland Park Lutheran Church. Volunteers helped provide meals to 100 people. Now, 40 years later, it’s one of the most popular Thanksgiving traditions, feeding thousands.

This year, they are providing 2,700 meals. Most of them will be delivered or carried-out to people who ordered in advance. However, hundreds of meals will also be available to community members who wish to dine-in.

Hilary Whitfield is the board president of the Park Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This is her first year organizing the event, but she has volunteered for 13 years and played different roles from packaging food to delivering meals.

“I’m so proud that we can continue this tradition in this community,” said Whitfield.

Whitfield replaced Bob Iverson, who retired after organizing the dinner for the last 30 years.

Whitfield said their success this year is credited to their volunteers. In total, 345 volunteers were needed to organize the dinner. Many of them started their Thanksgiving Day at 4 a.m. at Chuck’s Restaurant in the northside of Des Moines. They started cooking food and packaging delivery and carry-out.

Charlee Arestarr is a nine-year-old who spent her morning volunteering with her family. This is her fifth year volunteering.

“I love it because it’s my favorite helping people,” she said.

Emily Jones is one of the co-owners of Chuck’s Restaurant. The restaurant is one of the oldest eateries in Des Moines and is rooted in the community.

“All the volunteers keep pushing us to do it. They make it so easy,” said Jones.

Delivery will start at 9:30 a.m. when additional volunteers arrive to drop food off across the community. Carry-out and dine-in will go from 11 a.m. through 1 p.m. or whenever supplies last.

Chuck’s Restaurant is located at 3610 Sixth Avenue in Des Moines.