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At 6 a.m., the first volunteers began arriving. Cars began dropping off carefully prepared holiday dishes, even turkeys, and the crew from Fellowship Community Church set to work on delivering Thanksgiving dinner to every possible fire station and emergency room in the whole of Roanoke County.

This was Operation Turkey Drop's fifth year since Bob Finck brought his family's tradition with him from Fredericksburg, Maryland. Bob and Sandy Finck's daughter, Brenna, now 16, was injured in a car accident at age three, and because of her health complications, they ended up in the emergency room on most holidays.

"It was the third or fourth time, and we decided to just take our food with us," said Bob Finck. "They were becoming more and more like family, we knew the emergency room staff on a first name basis" at Mary Washington Hospital.

Once they moved to Virginia and started attending Fellowship Community Church in Salem, Finck shared his story with youth pastor James Tippins in five years ago. The first year, 28 to 37 people volunteered, and they served Carilion Memorial, Fort Lewis Fire Department, and the former Community Hospital.

"On the holidays, they're taking care of us," said volunteer Gerald Killian. "This is to thank them for protecting us, saving us, and keeping us safe so that we can be with our families that day during the holiday."

"Just because it's a holiday, people still get sick, they still need emergency services," said volunteer Deborah Bowlin. "It's a good feeling to know that you're doing something good for those who take care of the community."

Since 2003, the church has moved from their old building on Apperson Drive to a new complex on Red Lane in Salem, and during Operation Turkey Drop, they serve nearly every fire department and hospital within Roanoke County, Vinton, Roanoke, and Salem. Almost every member from the church either volunteers their time on Thanksgiving morning or they make one dish.

"If you make a mean green bean casserole, all we ask you to do is to make an extra one," Finck said. Family members or even the Thanksgiving chefs themselves will bring by their dish, drive-through style, between 7 and 9:30 a.m. Members who go out of town can buy a turkey from Bastians BBQ or from Krogers and have it delivered the morning of.

And because each station or ER gets a turkey or ham, stuffing, vegetables, rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce, a pie or dessert, and drinks, the organizing and food storage system has to be safe and efficient.

Finck worked for the Air Force for six years, and during that time he was a sort of event organizer for training operations. After leaving the military, he went into a Ford Dealership to buy a car, and he ended up getting a job. Both of his experiences helped him develop his serious social, organizing, and delegating skills.

Church members sign up for a dish a few weeks before the holiday. The Sunday before, they are given a sticker that appropriates their dish to a certain delivery location, so that when they drop it off, the "drive-through" handlers can get the dish to where it needs to go.

Volunteers inside the fellowship hall organize each meal onto tables as it comes in, and confirm whether a dish needs to stay hot, be cooked, or be refrigerated (former restauranteurs ensure that each is done properly.)

Drivers begin deliveries around 10:30 a.m., and the whole project (plus cleanup) is done around noon, just in time for Fellowship Church members to head to where they need to go for their own afternoon Thanksgiving dinners.

"I told my mother-in-law we'd be a little on the later side today," joked Michelle Hellier.

First photo: Michelle Hellier delivers a turkey to the fellowship hall from the "drive-through."

Second photo: Salem Fire Station 1 receives Thanksgiving dinner from Fellowship Community volunteers. Photo courtesy of Senior Firefighter Jeremy Hartman.

Third photo: Volunteers, including the Shannons of Salem, check to see which table a particular dish goes to.