Diners had their choice of four kinds of pie.

JOHN DAY — Barely organized chaos prevailed in the kitchen of the John Day Elks Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 23, with as many as a dozen people bustling about making final preparations for the club’s annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner.

It was a little after noon on Thanksgiving Day. Dozens of takeout meals had already gone out the door, and the first wave of in-house diners were queuing up to fill their plates. Weeks of preparation and two days of frenzied activity had led up to this moment, and now it was here.

Showtime.

Looking up from the stove where he was whipping up his umpteenth batch of instant mashed potatoes, Charlie Caughlin surveyed the hectic scene and shook his head in a sort of dazed amazement.

“We cooked 17 turkeys and we carved 65 pounds of ham,” said Caughlin, a past exalted ruler of the John Day lodge who now serves as leading knight. “So far we’ve gone through 7 gallons of gravy and we’re not even half done yet.”

Even in the midst of all the madness, however, Caughlin had a smile on his face — as did pretty much all the other volunteers working frantically to put together a holiday meal on a grand scale.

“We’re a small lodge, but there’s a lot of good people here,” said volunteer Joe Rubrecht, a recent transplant from the Portland area. “This is my first year doing this, but listening to people who have been here a long time, this event means a lot to this community.”

Last year the Elks gave away around 300 Thanksgiving dinners, but the club easily eclipsed that total this year. By 3 p.m. on Thursday, the Elks had boxed up about 200 takeout and delivery meals and served 230 in-house diners — “and the volunteers won’t eat until after 4,” said Josh Fuller.

Fuller was one of about 40 volunteers who pitched in to put the meal together — not counting the 10 or so drivers who delivered heaping plates of food to homebound residents across the county.

“They ranged all the way out to Dayville and Bates,” said Chauncy Groves, who stayed busy washing dishes and whatever else needed doing in the kitchen and dining room.

Fuller’s job was to order the food for the feast — a process that started in October.

In addition to 17 turkeys and seven hams, the provisions included 120 pounds of sweet potatoes, 20 pounds of dry stuffing mix, 40 pounds of instant mashed potatoes, 60 pounds of green beans, 60 pounds of corn, 24 pies, 400 rolls and “a lot of butter,” Fuller said.

How much butter, exactly? Try 180 pounds.

This year’s food bill added up to $5,900, covered (barely) by a $6,000 grant from the Elks National Foundation, which is supported by donations from local lodges like the one in John Day.

Janel Parker, the club’s grant coordinator, said any leftover cash will be rolled into other projects to support the community, such as putting on a fancy dinner for Grant County’s small school prom next spring. The event has been on hiatus because of the pandemic, and Parker said it was especially important to bring it back this year to help restore a sense of normalcy to area teens.

“It’s supposed to be a drug- and alcohol-free experience,” she said. “Because of depression caused by COVID, we need to prop up our community.”

It’s exactly that sort of spirit that animates the Elks’ annual Thanksgiving dinner, said Kori Martin. Looking around the crowded, steaming kitchen, where her fellow volunteers jostled one another as they fixed food for their friends and neighbors, Martin commented on the event’s family atmosphere.

“We hold our community in our hearts,” she said. “We’re just a family. And we feed our family.”