AUSTINTOWN An old tradition followed one Austintown church into the new year, which met for its free monthly dinner on Jan. 1.

The Austintown Baptist Church invites members of the congregation and the public to have dinner with them on the first Thursday of each month. No matter the month, each meal is free to anyone in attendance. 

"We bring the community in, we serve them, we sit with them, we talk with them," Charles Homa, the church's pastor, said. "There's never any fee."

Homa says that the dinner events originally took place 3 or 4 times a year, but that he and the church hope it will eventually happen even more frequently.

"In the nice weather, we will see this hall fill up," Homa said. "We've had a line all the way down the hall, waiting to get in here to sit down."

Homa expressed that all are welcome to the dinners and that anywhere from 50 to 150 people come to the events regularly. 

The Austintown Baptist Church is located at 1180 S Raccoon Rd.