Groton ― Straining turkey stock, assembling stuffing and mashed potatoes ― Trad Dart was doing it all as of 6 a.m. on Christmas.

The lone chef was prepping close to 150 meals Sunday for friends and strangers at Union Baptist Church in Mystic. Generations of his family have attended the church he calls “a second home.”

Fellow parishioner Dawn Scanlon on the other hand was assigning volunteers positions and readying the dining room decorated with red poinsettias and hanging paper snowflakes.

They were joined by a dozen volunteers to serve the food and wait on guests.

This is the eighth year Dart and Scanlon have volunteered to organize the church’s Christmas meal. The two decided to continue the annual meal after the previous volunteers, Gayle and Dave Oko, had retired after doing it for more than 15 years.

“It’s our gift to the community,” Scanlon said.

Dart said he was a professional chef, having worked at the Mystic Aquarium and Lighthouse Inn among local places, and wanted to give back to the church, feeling most comfortable in the kitchen. He said he’d be home in time to cook dinner with his kids and grandkids.

The dinner he prepped included roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamy cauliflower and carrots.

The meal for the past three years was take-out and delivery only due to the COVID-19 pandemic but Sunday was back to serving people in person.

Scanlon said it was important the church did the Christmas meal especially with the high cost of food and life in general after the pandemic. She said the church received a $2,500 donation from Charter Oak Federal Credit Union to put on the meal this year.

“A lot of people are alone and it’s kind of a fun time,” Scanlon said. “I’d love to see more people come to the meal.”

Longtime friends Bessie Stafford, of Mystic, and Janet Kessler, of Pawcatuck, shared their first Christmas meal at the church together. Since their significant others have passed away over the years, the two have relied on each other for car rides and company.

Stafford said they’re both alone for the day and didn’t want to cook a big dinner.

Kessler said she had spent Christmas Eve with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren but the meal at Union Baptist Church was “great for people like us where the kids are grown and have their own holidays.”

Although serving food for two hours, Scanlon said about 30 people had been fed in-person with 48 deliveries made within the first hour.

Among the volunteers were Gina Williams, her husband Brian, and their children Chase and Angelina. The family members are not parishioners but volunteer every year. The oldest, Chase, now in his sophomore year of college, was in middle school when they started to volunteer.

Williams said she has volunteered at different places since she was in college and wanted her kids to have similar experiences. She said her children look forward to it every year and it has become a tradition.

“We open presents at home and then come here. We have a lot of fun and we all really like helping people,” she said. “You get so much when you help other people. I know everybody says that but its true.”

j.vazquez@theday.com