Volunteers serve up free dinners 3 times a month

CANTON — Kenneth J. Antwine and his wife, Ruth M., plan to eat their Thanksgiving feast at a place that provides thousands of free, hot meals — not just at holiday time, but all year long.

They said they'll attend Wednesday's free-will dinner in the basement of the Canton United Methodist Church, 41 Court St., where turkey and all the trimmings will be served.

Mrs. Antwine said they started going to the free dinners after moving to Canton about a year ago because it gets them of the house and helps save on their grocery bill.

"We don't really do a lot, or get out. We can't afford to," Mrs. Antwine said. "We get $120 a month in food stamps and that doesn't go far."

The free-will dinners are offered from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on the first, second and third Wednesday of each month. People often start arriving by 3:30 p.m. so they can visit before they head to the serving line.

Carton L. Doane, Canton, started the dinners in 1999 and has kept the program running strong for the past 10 years, helped by dozens of volunteers.

"We're running at about 140 people each night," Mr. Doane said, noting that the meals draw people from Canton, Potsdam and surrounding communities.

"We thought when the economy started getting rougher that we'd see our numbers increase, but that hasn't happened. It's remained stable," he said.

On dinner nights, 20 to 25 meals are delivered to shut-ins and people with limited mobility.

"We're serving about 400 meals a month now," Mr. Doane said. "We have new people come in periodically, but we have a lot of regulars. Some certainly appear to need it because of their limited income and resources. Others seem to come for the social opportunity."

Monetary donations are accepted from those attending the meals, but are not required. About $40 is collected each week.

"That only works out to about 30 or 40 cents a person. That says to me that many folks don't have the funds," Mr. Doane said. "It's all right, though, because we have plenty of funds and donations to cover our expenses."

On Wednesday, the Antwines will join about 175 other north country residents who are expected to attend the traditional Thanksgiving feast.

"We came last year and it was phenomenal," Mrs. Antwine said. "We like to get out and see people. We know just about everyone here, more or less."

As in past years, the Thanksgiving dinner is being prepared in advance by area high school students enrolled in the culinary program at Seaway Tech Center, Norwood, operated by the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Along with 250 pounds of turkey, students plan to make mashed potatoes, dressing from scratch, 12 dozen rolls and 35 homemade apple and blueberry pies.

"They've been doing this for a number of years. It's extremely helpful to us," Mr. Doane said.

Since its inception a decade ago, the free will dinner program has provided an estimated 40,000 meals, according to Mr. Doane, who continues to coordinate meals, food donations and volunteers. Much of the food comes from the Central New York Food Bank, Syracuse. Bread and milk are donated by Stewart's Shops, while P&C markets provides gift certificates redeemed for food products.

Occasionally, Mr. Doane receives phone calls from people who want to donate fresh produce from their gardens or fruit trees. Other individuals or civic groups make cash donations.

"Recently, I had five bushels of apples donated from a Winthrop orchard. Last week I had a farmer donate at least 100 pounds of squash. If folks have extra, they often contact me," Mr. Doane said.

Initially, the dinners were held just once a month, which expanded to twice and eventually to the current three times.

The meals originally were served primarily by volunteers from the United Methodist Church, but as the program grew, volunteers stepped forward to join them from other churches and community groups. A group of parishioners from St. Mary's Catholic Church handles meal preparations every third Wednesday.

"It got to be more than our own church people could handle," Mr. Doane said. "It's turned very much into a community project, which makes it nice."