By Renee Worthing
Register Reporter
   Nearly 100 people streamed into the Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church on Thanksgiving to enjoy a free hot Thanksgiving meal provided by the church and the York County Shelter.
   The meal, described as “excellent,” included turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, peas, cranberry sauce as well as pastries, pies and beverages.
   Church members spent a couple of hours serving food in the church kitchen and vestry, which had been transformed into a dining room. The long tables were draped with tablecloths and baskets brimming with dinner rolls within reach of anyone seated at the tables.
   York County Sheriff Maurice Ouellette and his wife, Bonnie, were also on hand to help serve the free meal.
   “My wife and I didn’t have much going on,” he said. “Our kids are doing the in-law thing this year. We’ll get them for Christmas.”
   He said instead of staying at home, he called the York County Shelter and asked if there was anything he could do.
   “They said, ‘Come help us,’ and so we did,” Maurice said.
   He said he spent most of the morning doing dishes.
   “What are the guys at work going to say? I’m going to have dishpan hands,” he joked.
   Joking aside, he said he was pleased to be there.
   “I support the shelter, but this is the first time I’ve helped,” he said.
   Besides “doing dishes and more dishes,” he said he assisted in setting the tables, bringing in the food and doing “whatever else they need.”
   “This is neat. You look out there (in the dining room) and thank your lucky stars,” he said. “This is about them (people that need the meals).”  
   Judy Reis said this year was her fourth year of volunteering at the free Thanksgiving dinner.
   “The people here make it fun, it doesn’t seem like work,” she said.
   The York County Shelter prepared the food. The volunteers said they drove to Alfred to pick up the food at 10:30 a.m.
   “It was all ready,” Reis said. “All we had to do was pick it up.”
   Everyone who came to enjoy the meal was waited on, restaurant-style, as volunteers in the kitchen loaded plates high with hot food.
   David Orlandella of Sanford said the meal was “five-star.”
   He said he became aware of the meal when he saw the sign in front of the church.
   “It was a great meal,” he said.
   He said he was leaving with a full belly and food to go, as well.
   “It was an excellent meal," Sanford resident Felix Goodrich said.
   He said this was his first holiday without his mother wo died eight months ago.
   “It’s nice to get out,” he said. “It’s sad to be alone.”
   Linda Lee Lambert of Sanford said she came for the meal because she believes Thanksgiving should be a community affair.
   “I like the community effort,” she said. “And it’s good food.”
   She said she would be having a second Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday when her kids came to her house.
   Athena Court and Michael Daigle also enjoyed the hot meal.
   “It’s very good. The people are really nice and I can’t imagine anyone leaving hungry,” Court said.
   Daigle said the volunteers were “very friendly, very nice and hard working.”
   Everyone left the church with Styrofoam containers filled with enough food for another meal.
   “At least you know they’ll get a real good meal,” volunteer Joan Sylvester said.