OXFORD — Daddy O’s Diner at 1570 Main St. expects to serve more than 600 free Thanksgiving dinners to those who need or want a home-cooked meal Thursday.

Aaron and Amanda Ouellette say the tradition started 16 years ago as a way to teach their two sons a life lesson.

“We wanted to give our kids the experience of giving back,” Amanda said. “And we tried to get into other places on Thanksgiving. But that’s I guess, one of the most volunteered days.”

She and her husband own the diner and a second location that opened last year on Route 26 in Mechanic Falls. She said they figured they own a restaurant, so, why not do this?

“That’s kind of how it started,” she said.

The couple, who reside in Mechanic Falls, started with two turkeys, about 10-12 pounds each, and thought, “that’s a lot of food, we’re never going to go through this. And now we’re sitting back cooking somewhere in the vicinity of 600 to 700 pounds,” Aaron said.

Donated food is stacked up Monday morning in the kitchen at Daddy O’s Diner at 1570 Main St. in Oxford. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

That’s a lot of turkey — 70 to be exact. At least 10 are donated by Whispering Winds Farm in Mechanic Falls, which raises 10 just for the Daddy O’s meal. Blackie’s produce store in Auburn donated vegetables, Costco Wholesale in Scarborough donated pumpkin pies, and Child Linen Service of Auburn made a very generous cash donation and others donated cash or food.

The Ouellettes said a lot of their customers are older people and some don’t have extended family. “We just figured it was a good way to get them out, and we could be their family,” Amanda said.

They will deliver to people who can’t get out, while those who wish may take a meal home.

Amanda and Aaron Ouellette peer over pumpkin and lemon meringue pies Monday as they cool in the kitchen of Daddy O’s Diner in Oxford. They expect to serve free Thanksgiving dinner to more than 600 people. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“It’s also become tradition for a lot of families to come here, have their meal, and then they donate,” she added. “It goes to our foundation, which then in turn goes back to the community… they can come in, spend time with their family and they don’t have to cook and clean.”

Those jobs belong to a volunteer force of more than 20, plus employees and family to cook, serve, wash dishes, take orders, deliver and clean up at the end of the day.

Dinner is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., but the Ouellettes want to assure everyone that if they come at noon or 1 p.m. or later there will be plenty of food and it will be a lot less crowded.

“Don’t think you have to show up at 11 a.m., because we are not going to run out of food,” Aaron Ouellette emphasized. “Things toward the end of the times are usually much calmer. There’s like a big initial wave of people.”

On the menu this year: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, carrots, butternut squash, dinner rolls and assorted pies.

Amanda Ouellette labels pies Monday morning in the kitchen at Daddy O’s Diner on Main Street in Oxford ahead of their 16th annual free Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“We encourage everybody that if you are getting some for yourself, think of your immediate bubble, and who’s around you as far as your neighbors go,” Aaron said. “Maybe there’s someone who doesn’t have a family, or someone elderly that could use a couple of free meals to put in their freezer or refrigerator.”

“Don’t ask them, just bring it to them, because Mainers are too prideful, and they won’t ask for assistance,” he said. “But if you just drop it on their door and knock. They’ll definitely be grateful and appreciative and take it.”

There will be four special volunteers helping out this year — those two sons, who they started this giving event for, have graduated college. “One’s married, one’s getting married, and they’re bringing their new brides home to teach them about this for us,” Aaron said with pride.

“That’s why we do it, too. It’s good for us. It fills our cup up to make other people happy,” he said.