The restaurant serves a free Thanksgiving feast for those in need

A Burlington restaurant hosted a free Thanksgiving feast for everyone who needed it on Thursday.

Sweetwaters on Church Street offers a warm meal and a welcoming atmosphere to each Thanksgiving holiday for 28 years.

The tradition continued, the popular watering point welcoming hundreds of community members, many of whom had nowhere to go.

"It's just a good opportunity to think about what you should be grateful for in life instead of thinking about what you do not have," said owner David Melincoff.

"By the end of the day, you feel better knowing that people are in a warm place," said Courtney Davish, one of the dozens of volunteers who have spent their day serving community members.

While guests enjoyed a delicious mix of turkey, squash and other Thanksgiving favorites, they were also invited to grab one of the hundreds of winter jackets that the restaurant had collected in its annual coat rack.

The gift of the jacket came for Thanksgiving with record cold temperatures in Burlington.

"What a nice day to have it," Melincoff said. "People are really cold and they can come here and warm up."

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