Act-N-Do is serving up 700 free Thanksgiving Day dinners in Corning area. What to know.

For Lorraine Sutton, Act-N-Do, the non-profit organization providing Thanksgiving Day dinners to hundreds of families in the greater Corning area each of the past 13 years, is a blessing.

Act-N-Do has made a traditional Thanksgiving meal, with all its tasty delights and tradition, possible for Sutton and her husband, James, for nearly 10 years.

“I just want to tell them thank you,” said Sutton, of Corning. “I get very happy they do this. It’s a great thing.”

An army of volunteers spring into action each Thanksgiving season to make it all happen.

Fran’s Landing, at 996 Addison Road, Painted Post, along with Christ Episcopal Church, at 33 E. First St., Corning, will serve as home bases for pickups and deliveries for the longstanding tradition of providing free meals to hundreds of people in the community. This year, around 700 meals are expected to go out the door.

“Lots of people giving up their time to make sure everybody’s given a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal,” said Debbie Finamore-Flint, co-founder of Act-N-Do. “It’s wonderful to see. We have a huge number of people picking up their dinner or sending a neighbor or a family member to do so, and in some cases us delivering.

"We don't want anybody to go without Thanksgiving Day dinner.”

Finamore-Flint said Act-N-Do does not just provide Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thanksgiving Day to disadvantaged people in need, it's for everyone. People who are spending Thanksgiving alone or cannot cook an extravagant meal themselves also utilize the service.

The event has only grown over the years and now stretches across Steuben County, Chemung County and into Pennsylvania.

“The tradition of Thanksgiving is to always give back,” Finamore-Flint said. “We serve a lot of veterans, lots of people that are ill, a lot of elderly people. We first served the Addison and Corning communities, now we serve the surrounding areas. We’ve delivered Thanksgiving Day dinners in Elmira, Bath, Canisteo and the Northern Pennsylvania area.”

Irene Hebert Smith, a U.S. Marine veteran from Cameron, called the Act-N-Do Thanksgiving Day dinner "terrific."

“My husband, my son and his family all come to enjoy Thanksgiving Day dinner at my home,” Smith said. “It’s quite handy. I donate to Act-N-Do every year. It’s a great thing for so many people.”

Chris Sando, of Corning, said receiving a Thanksgiving Day dinner means an awful lot to him.

“My family is gone. My mom, my dad, and my brother are all gone,” Sando said. “I have no family in the area, so having Thanksgiving Day dinner made for me is wonderful.”

Troy Preston, co-owner of Fran’s Landing, Rector at Christ Episcopal Church, and co-founder of Act-N-Do, said volunteers will start out cooking at about 5 a.m. Thanksgiving Day and free meals will begin being distributed starting at 11:30 a.m. at Fran’s Landing and Christ Episcopal Church.

“Everybody who contacts us, we give a reservation and a time to pick the food up or we deliver it to them,” Preston said. “We give reservations so that everyone doesn’t come at the same time for their food.”

Finamore-Flint said there is a need for Act-N-Do, and delivering Thanksgiving Day dinner is a way to give back to the community.

“It’s absolutely there for people in need,” Finamore-Flint said. “For families in need, but also for people that maybe just couldn't get together with their families. We probably have 25-30 volunteers; people are always ready to help us.”

Act-N-Do can be reached at its Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on The Leader: Corning volunteers prep to serve hundreds of free Thanksgiving meals