As is the Thanksgiving tradition in the Mid-Ohio Valley, several groups are welcoming anyone in need of a free, holiday meal inside for turkey, pumpkin pie and companionship.

Thanksgiving Day dinners are being planned in Marietta, Williamstown, Parkersburg and other communities as a way to ensure everyone has somewhere to go on Thursday, Nov. 26.

"We do this as a nonpartisan, non-religious event for people who have a desire to be thankful," said Vonda Lee, pastor of Cornerstone Ministries in Reno, which hosts a dinner. "Especially with the way the economy is now, fear is starting to grip people. We need to turn the focus on being thankful for what we do have."

Cornerstone Ministries has held its Thanksgiving celebration for 22 years and has welcomed as many as 300 guests.

More than 430 people - a record number - were served last year at the 11th annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner at the Norwood United Methodist Church, which is a joint effort of several area churches.

The organizers are still looking for more volunteers for the 12th annual dinner, with a meeting for those interested to be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 21 at the church.

Volunteers are needed to deliver dinners, decorate and clean up, said chairman Tom Insley.

"It's a really special thing they do," said Ann Miller, 63, who lives near the church. "It's packed every Thanksgiving. It's nice to watch everyone coming in and going out."

The events are a mix of traditional dinners and a chance to eat with friends or make new ones, said organizers.

"Ours is food, fun and fellowship," said Lee. "Anyone can come."

The celebration, which began more than two decades ago as a dinner for those staying at Cornerstone's homeless shelter and their friends, is based on the idea of openness, said Lee.

"We want to not be like how most of the world is," she said. "Most people have a party and invite all their friends, and then when the friends have a party they get invited to theirs. We invite people who don't have the means to give us back anything."