American Legion members serving food to residents of Gray and beyond. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

American Legion Post 86 in Gray hosted its first community supper of 2025 on Saturday, Feb. 1, continuing an over 50-year-old tradition.

According to Nancy True, who has been helping with these suppers for 31 years, they are held on the first Saturday of every month save December and January. While the First Congregational Church of Gray and AMVETS New Gloucester also hold monthly suppers, the three organizations have an arrangement to hold the events on different weeks to avoid overlap.

The supper, held at the American Legion Auxiliary, is all-you-can-eat, and costs $12 to enter. The entry price is reduced to $6 for 5- to 11-year-olds, and waived entirely for children under the age of 5. Meals are largely homemade, and in the past, have included various kinds of beans, chop suey, coleslaw, hot dogs, casseroles and salads, with pies served for dessert. According to True, the supper regularly sees attendees from all across Southern Maine, from Auburn to as far afield as Saco.

Speaking to the Lakes Region Weekly, True explained that many of their guests treat the supper as an event, with 75% coming every single month. She even recalled several couples who would treat the event as a date night. One particularly heartwarming story concerned a man who used to come every week with his wife, and after she moved into a nursing home, would come in, dressed in a suit and tie, and take an extra piece of food with him to give to her.

“A lot of the same people come back month after month,” said True, whose siblings and in-laws were also regular attendees, with her sister and brother-in-law having come to almost every supper for half a dozen years straight.

True noted that the size of the suppers has greatly increased in recent years. Traditionally, the largest suppers took place in the summer, when snowbirds return to Maine and attendance regularly exceeds 100 people, and the Legion would be lucky to get 45 or 50 in February. However, last year, although the event was set up for 60 people, far more showed up, and the organizers had to get more tables and chairs to accommodate them. The event on Feb. 1 was set up for 96 and, even as a line snaked around half the perimeter of the building, True joked that it “wasn’t even a full house.”

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Despite the turnout, which has led to the Legion making nearly $1,000 a month off of community suppers alone, they have never run out of food, and True boasted of their quick turnaround time, with setup beginning at 4 p.m., the first customers coming in at 5 p.m., and clean up by 6 p.m.

The American Legion does a great deal of work for the Gray community outside of their monthly suppers. One of their more notable charitable endeavors in recent months has been raising $1,100 for Mission Working Dogs, an Oxford-based program centered around helping to provide service dogs for individuals with disabilities. The Legion has also raised money for scholarship funds, Thanksgiving baskets for needy families in the community, as well as the Auxiliary Emergency Fund, which helps members in case of emergencies.

In addition to their community outreach, both True and Legion member Linda Walker noted that there was a strong sense of community within the American Legion. Walker in particular recalled a time when a Legion member’s deck was unsafe, and several Legion members donated their time to help her have a safe space to walk on.

“If somebody comes to us, we find a way to take care of them, we really do,” said True.

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