FREEPORT – Whether serving at the Freeport Community Center or delivering to families, volunteers love to work the Azure Cafe’s annual Thanksgiving Day community meal. Sometimes, in fact, Azure Cafe owners Jonas and Kate Werner have to tell people they have all the helpers they need.

Jonas Werner recalls one year when he felt sorry for a man who wanted so much to help. Werner, on a whim, asked the man if he wanted to play piano.

“He loved the idea, and he was a great piano player,” Werner said.

Once again this Thanksgiving Day, the Werners, their staff and a host of volunteers will serve a free meal of turkey and all the fixings. Last year, including deliveries to people who requested them from Freeport Community Services, they served an all-time high of around 200 people. Azure Cafe has been doing the community meal since it opened 11 years ago.

“Thanksgiving was a really important holiday in my family,” Jonas Werner said. “It was my grandmother’s favorite holiday. My grandmother told me that Thanksgiving was the one holiday that people don’t want to be alone.”

Werner said he misses doing the deliveries, but yielded the privilege because it’s so sought after.

“The people who deliver end up spending a lot of time with the people they deliver to,” he said. “One Thanksgiving we delivered to a family of 12.”

The Werners encourage everyone to enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner.

“Any age, any socioeconomic background,” he said. “We all sit at the same table.”

In all, Werner said, 32 volunteers work two sessions to do the dinner.

Executive chef Chris Bassett has been with the community meal since its inception, as well. He and his volunteer staff cook everything except the corn pudding, which Kate Werner and the couple’s children make.

With apologies to his grandmother, Werner said that Bassett’s Thanksgiving meal is the best he’s eaten.

“His turkey gravy is incredible,” Werner said. “The turkeys come from Wolfe’s Neck Farm. He de-bones and cooks the white meat and the dark meat separately, so it’s all done right. He uses the bodies to make the gravy.”

Kate Werner said she is proud that this event, which started with only a few participants, has flourished and grown in size over the last 11 years.

“Walking around the room at the community Thanksgiving dinner always makes me smile,” she said. “People jockey for volunteer positions each year. How wonderful that people are so excited to wash dishes, serve, deliver meals or clean tables on a holiday. They all look so happy just to be there.”

Kate Werner added that she is “especially proud” to see entire families come to work at the dinner.

“It is a perfect reflection of the commitment to service we have in our community,” she said.

Again this year, AB Taxi Co. is offering free rides to the Community Center and back home for anyone who needs one. Those interested should call 865-2222.

Susan Mack, family services coordinator for Freeport Community Services, will be among those on hand for the feast.

“It feels a lot like community,” Mack said. “It’s a great day. It’s great that Jonas is still doing it. There are so many volunteers, I can’t keep track of them. I kind of let Jonas take care of that.”

Bassett has been with Azure Cafe since its inception.

“The first few years we had it here at the restaurant,” Bassett recalled. “Then it outgrew us. It just makes sense on Thanksgiving to go over the top. It’s a great community experience for everyone.”

Bassett cooks the turkeys, and bakes the pumpkin and pecan pies himself.

“I’m kind of a control freak,” he said. “I won’t buy pies for an event like this. I want it to be the best I can make it.”

Bassett bakes off the pies the night before Thanksgiving, and then is in the kitchen at 5 the next morning.

Werner said that, while the community meal is a big effort, he’s always happy when Thanksgiving comes.

“When I see people there and the looks on their faces,” he said, “I remember why we keep doing it.”

A CLOSER LOOK

Again this year, Azure Cafe? and a host of volunteers invite everyone to a free Thanksgiving Day meal, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. To RSVP for the dinner, call Sue Mack at 865-3985, ext. 205, or Kim Hudak at 865-3985, ext. 202.

Jonas Werner, left, owner of Azure Cafe, stands with David Webster, a former Maine legislator, and executive chef Christoper Bassett, last year during the community dinner Azure Cafe provides at the Freeport Community Center.