BATON ROUGE - St. Vincent de Paul and Holiday Helpers are giving thanks in a huge way this year—they're feeding those most in need with hot meals this Thanksgiving, and they've been busy all morning long preparing those meals for more than 2,500 people in the Baton Rouge area.

Volunteers woke up bright and early to put together all the fixings. Plates were loaded with turkey, ham, green beans, yams, dressing, and even dessert.

Something different this year is they're serving at four different locations: The Raising Cane's River Center, St. Vincent de Paul, McKinley High School Alumni Center, and St. Gerard Catholic Church.

Michael Acaldo with St. Vincent de Paul says it's great to see the community come together every year to help those in need.

"We've gotten so many wonderful supporters to help us with cranberries or green beans and of course the Congregation of Baton Rouge of the Jewish Federation," Acaldo said. "They were just so wonderful. They donated 188 turkeys. Everybody came together in a powerful way to express their love and compassion for everybody that lives in Baton Rouge and that's something that as a community, we should be very joyous about and we're about to kick off the holiday season throughout the new year."

Thanksgiving is their busiest time of the year and they'll start preparing for Christmas within the next week.