Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Diners enjoy a Thanksgiving meal at Sacred Heart Church in Calumet, one of several sites for the Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly meals.

CALUMET – The Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly Thanksgiving dinners provide a taste of home for those who might not otherwise have a place to go on Thanksgiving.

The organization held dinners Thanksgiving in Calumet, Copper City, Hancock, Houghton, Marquette, Ontonagon, South Range and Tapiola.

David King has been volunteering at the Calumet dinners since the early 1980s. The holidays would feel “incomplete” without coming to serve, he said. His oldest daughter, who lives in Pennsylvania, has bemoaned the lack of Little Brothers dinners in her area; the closest one is across the state.

“This is what the holidays are all about,” King said. “We go home satisfied whether or not we’ve had a meal.”

Fifty-four people had signed up for the dinner in Calumet, although the usual number ends up being higher, King said.

“They go home with enough food for another meal at least,” she said.

Volunteer Judy Sellers comes to the dinners because she enjoys serving people

“We all had a blessed holiday,” she said. “Just seeing the smiles on people’s faces.”

George Dale Koski of Lake Linden has been coming for the past several years. His favorite part is the apple pie.

“Good food, good service, good people here,” he said

June Burich of Laurium has been coming for the past five seasons since her husband died. She came with her daughter Antonia.

“When you don’t have family at home that’s getting together, then you have another place to go with a different kind of family,” she said.

Diners got a complimentary flower magnet made by Violet Shebby, 7, of Calumet. She said she makes the magnets “to serve the elders.”

“I think the flowers can remind them of spring, and the turkey can remind them of the day,” she said.