When asked why she holds free dinners each year at Thanksgiving, she said Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday.

“I’m a humanitarian and I love to give back,” Hoover said. “I’ll feed anybody anything. You can come in here and not have a penny and you can eat. We Just do that. I like to make money, that’s what pays our bills, but we also have people who come in here all the time and don’t have enough to pay for their meal and we comp it for them.”

She also said it’s just who they are, and that they donate everything they can without hurting themselves and their staff who need to be paid.

This is the 13th year the restaurant has done the free Thanksgiving dinner. Both owners and the staff come in on Thanksgiving Day and volunteer their time to cook and serve. The restaurant will close the day after so the employees can rest and have a day off. Between employees and volunteers, the restaurant will have about 15 people on hand to serve dinner.

Someplace Else on Main Street in Wellsville will be the site of a free community Thanksgiving Day dinner. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Those who are looking for a carry out option for the dinners can call in up to a couple days before Thanksgiving and reserve a time slot between 3 and 6 p.m. to pick up a limit of five free dinners for their household.

“They can come in and take food home and everything is free,” Hoover said. “We don’t require any type of monetary value at all.”

Hoover noted donations are welcome if someone wants to contribute but are not necessary to eat. She also noted they shop frugally so they can afford to have dinners. Hoover said she went to Walmart and bought 42 turkeys.

A dine-in option is available for the free dinners, but reservations will be required for any group with four or more people. Reservations can be made by contacting the restaurant.

Those who eat in will dine at communal tables, so nobody dines alone.

Someplace Else on Main Street in Wellsville will be the site of a free community Thanksgiving Day dinner. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

The dinner is open to anybody who is interested, not just Wellsville residents. Hoover noted she has people who come from Carrollton, Ohio and Chester, West Virginia.

The restaurant will serve 50 carry out meals in 15 minutes.

Last year they served 357 meals in three hours.

The Wellsville VFW is for the second year helping with the dinner by contributing to the cost.

Any leftovers at the end of the dinner go to the VFW to serve the next day to all their people.

Someplace Else on Main Street in Wellsville will be the site of a free community Thanksgiving Day dinner. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

In addition to the free Thanksgiving dinner, the restaurant also conducts Christmas toy drives and picks families to help at Christmas.

“We do everything we can to help out in the community,” Hoover said. “We love Wellsville and the surrounding area.”

Someplace Else is located at 400 Main St., Wellsville. Reservations or dinner orders for the Thanksgiving Day dinner can be made by calling 330-532-9710.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com