A Thanksgiving tradition in Warren made its way back, for the first time since the start of the pandemic.  The Warren Family Mission hosted its annual Thanksgiving dinner in-person. 

Dominic Mararri tells 21 News that 2,285 meals were given out Wednesday afternoon, up from 700 when he started working at the mission.

"We prepared over 300 turkeys which equals about 6,000 pounds of turkey.", Mararri explained.  The organization received 150 turkeys through donations this morning alone and were passed out amongst families to take home for Thanksgiving.

In a year where turkeys have been hard to get and the number of people facing food insecurity has risen, Dominic says that demand has been met by volunteers and through the generosity of the community.

"We has 120 volunteers here throughout the course of the week.", Mararri added.

Some volunteers prepped the cafeteria, as well as the food, in addition to putting up decorations--while others delivered meals to those who couldn't make it.

"We've been here since Monday, we've been bagging like 2,000 cookies and everything but it's just so warming to give back and help the community.", said Kayla Wilson, a volunteer the Warren Family Mission.

Mayor Doug Franklin has been apart of this tradition for the last 10 years. He tells 21 News he's happy to see the people in the community going above and beyond to help each other.

"That's what we do as a community--we pick each other up when someone falls, and that's been in our DNA as long as I've been in this community and that's been my whole life.", said Mayor Doug Franklin.

Having this event in person this year is something Mararri was extremely happy about saying it's nice for people to have a place to go for the holiday.