From left, Clemence Lecornu, Julie Buchenholz and daughter Mila Buchenholz, Pat Wilson of Homes with Hope, and Joe and Shelley Jacoby. / Contributed photos.
At the Gillespie Center on Thursday were, from left, Clemence Lecornu, Julie Buchenholz and daughter Mila Buchenholz, Pat Wilson of Homes with Hope, and Joe and Shelley Jacoby. / Contributed photos.

WESTPORT — Several volunteers dished out a Thanksgiving dinner to residents of the Gillespie Center on Thursday.

About a half-dozen volunteers served 25 or so residents of the homeless shelter on Jesup Road run by Homes with Hope, according to Helen McAlinden, president and CEO of Homes with Hope, which manages the center.

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker stopped by to greet the clients in the morning, McAliden said, as she does on holidays.

The meal was donated by a family that wished to remain anonymous, she said. The same family donated last year’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Another family and some friends volunteered to serve the meal McAliden said. She said Julie Buchenholz and her family, recent arrivals in Westport and members of Temple Israel, volunteered to the help with the meal. Two friends visiting from Florida, Joe and Shelley Jacoby, came along to help.

“That’s a wonderful thing for a family to donate, and the other family to serve,” McAliden said. “What a very brilliant community in Westport.”

Something else to be thankful for, she said, the organization will mark its 40th anniversary next month. It earlier was the Interfaith Housing Association, and the original homeless shelter was in the former Vigilant Hose Company building across the river on Wilton Road.

And its latest home on Jesup Road will undergo a major update beginning in the spring utilizing a $1.2 million grant from the Connecticut Department of Housing. The project has obtained all its local approvals and has been put out to bid, she said.