As you get ready for Thanksgiving, consider this: Some people started preparations in August.

“It just keeps getting bigger. We start cooking turkeys three months before this and freezing them – that’s how many we have to cook,” said John Dukette. As executive chef at Holiday Inn in Concord, Dukette is no stranger to preparing lots of food for lots of people, but the annual lead-in to free Thanksgiving dinners at the Windmill Restaurant is something special.

“We have 140 turkeys, 500 pounds of mashed potatoes, 400 pounds of summer squash – all donated. … This year we’ll feed 1,800 people,” he said.

Tuesday saw a frenzy of activity at the Holiday Inn kitchen where Dukette oversaw students from the IMPACTT Academy, a program for high school students to get credit outside the classroom, as they helped with turkey preparations.

“I’m basting it in herb butter to give it the crust, give it the flavor, so the turkeys can be quickly prepared but still flavorful,” said Connor Dixon, a senior at Hopkinton. “I know what it’s like to grow up poor … so anything we can do to help people, give them a slightly better life, is always worth doing.”

Nearby, Emilee Smart, a student at Concord High School, agreed.

“I’ve struggled with poverty myself, so I like to give back to the community,” she said.

IMPACCT, which stands for Inspiring the Mastery of Post-Secondary Achievement in College, Career, and Training, enrolls students to get hands-on work experience for career exploration and academic credit. It operates throughout the state.

This is the 33rd year that the Windmill Restaurant, 172 Loudon Road, has been hosting free Thanksgiving dinners. Meals are served hot on-site, while many others are boxed up for pickup or delivery. The operation requires the effort of several dozen volunteers, including many who have been participating for decades.

The annual tradition was started by patriarch Louie Smirnioudis, who passed away in 2013. In 1990, Smirnioudis came up with the idea to feed the community a Thanksgiving dinner. 

It started small, but it grew year after year. Now thousands of meals go through the restaurant each year under the leadership of George and Kosmas Smirnioudis.

As the effort to provide free holiday meals has expanded, so has the number of people who pitch in to make sure everything gets done in time, especially the restaurant employees.

Those who would like to support the Windmill with a donation can call the restaurant at (603) 225-0600.