Those who don’t want to cook for Thanksgiving, or don’t want to spend the day alone, or who can’t afford a traditional holiday meal have an alternative in many area towns…free community dinners that ask for no more than free will donations.

 Scottsbluff has the region’s largest holiday meal…the 29th annual Thanksgiving in the Valley community dinner at the Guadalupe Center on from 11:00 to 1:00. About 600 meals will be served, almost evenly split between those eating at the Center and those getting home deliveries.

 Head cook Randy Thruston has been involved since the third year of the meal, and has 5 volunteer cooks for the nearly two dozen turkeys and all the trimmings.

 Thruston it’s become a tradition for the cooks to return, catch up on what’s happened in their lives since last Thanksgiving, and have a lot of fun…all while preparing the meal.

 Alliance has the region’s oldest holiday meal…the 44th annual People Helping People Thanksgiving Dinner. It runs from 11:30-1:30 at the Holy Rosary Parish Center at 11th and Cheyenne from 11:30 to 1:30…with deliveries starting at 11:00.

 In Chadron, it’s the Caring Sharing Thanksgiving Dinner at the Assumption Arena. Dinner will be served from noon to 1:30, with deliveries going out starting at 11:30.

And in Crawford, the Eagles Club will once again be hosting a potluck turkey dinner from 11-to-1:00 with people asked to bring a salad or dessert. Entire families are welcome, and carry-out meals will be arranged.