Turkey and all the trimmings — seasoned with love, compassion and caring — are on the menu for the Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Washington’s First Baptist Church on Thanksgiving Day.

The free meal, quickly becoming a tradition at the church located at the intersection of East Main and Harvey streets, begins at 1 p.m. Church members, some of whom also serve those who attend the event, prepare the meal. For people unable to make it to the church, meals are delivered to them at their homes. Last year, about 50 meals were delivered, mostly to shut-ins and nursing home residents.

The annual dinner is open to anyone in the community.

“We’re hoping that people who need a meal because they can afford one can come, but that’s only one purpose,” said Tammy Condrey, a church member helping organize the dinner. “Other major purpose is just to enhance the community and offer people who may be the only one at their house and they don’t cook a big meal, don’t want to cook a big meal or maybe it’s just a small family and they have no other family in town — it gives them a place to come and a place to have a sense of community on Thanksgiving, just to eat together with the others. You don’t have to be in need to come, but it’s for anybody who wants to come and have meal together.”

The Rev. Dr. James Moore, the church’s senior pastor, noted the Thanksgiving meal ministry is just one of the church’s several important ministries.

“I think it’s very important because there’s so many people who don’t have family. The dinner is open to folks who don’t have family. If you’re going to be spending Thanksgiving by yourself, those folks should come,” Moore said. “It will give you some community, some fellowship, some friendship. It’s also a place for folks who may be down on their luck or even our homeless folks to come and have a Thanksgiving meal here at the church. It’s an important ministry.”

The Community Thanksgiving Dinner began in 2012. In addition to cooking turkeys for the meal, church members also donate money, which is used to buy ingredients for side dishes and paper products used for the meal. They also prepare the church’s Family Life Center for the event and clean up after the diners depart.

Last year, according to church officials, about 50 people were involved in all aspects of preparing and serving the meal.