Superintendent Eileen King said that planning for the recent Giving Tuesday dinner at Boothbay Region Elementary School went “seamlessly.”

“A couple of conversations with Darlene (French) and Val (Young) and it all came together,” King said.

The dinner was held Dec. 2 at 5 p.m., and King estimated 275 community members showed up to eat and visit the booths set up for local nonprofits who are part of Boothbay Treasures.

(Boothbay Treasures is a group created this year bringing together members of incorporated nonprofits from the peninsula in a joint effort to promote the work they do.)

While a school dinner is held every year, this year the meal was moved to Giving Tuesday to focus on both the healthy food served and the local nonprofits in the region.

The meal included baked potatoes with or without cheese sauce, broccoli, roast turkey, chicken casserole, salad, mac and cheese, chopped suey, yeast rolls, and more.

“The staff came in early and stayed late to get this all done,” Food Services Director Darlene French said. Dawn (Murphy) and Nancy (Cressey) came in Sunday to start work on this project. They made the chopped suey sauce, cooked the turkeys, made the cookies and started the pasta.”

The entire staff worked on the dinner, including Laurie Dickinson, Pamela Soule, Holly Lewis and Julie Bellefluer, along with Cressey, Murphy and French.

“The cafeteria staff is amazing,” BRHS principal Dan Welch said, while he enjoyed the dinner with his kids, Sydney and Liam. “Every day they make healthy meals for the kids at school. During BikeMaine, they showed up at 2 or 3 a.m. to work. They never complain, and are always willing to help.

“You don't always see them but they do great things.”

Members of the community were impressed with the meal.

Sue Burge of Boothbay, who was recently honored by the school district for her work organizing Set for Success, was at the meal with her granddaughter Magen, who attends BRES as a second grader.

“Darlene is very committed to healthy eating,” Burge said. “Magen comes home and talks about healthy eating and what we should and shouldn't eat. The kids are picking up on the communication and learning. I'm very impressed with the food, and loved the whole wheat rolls using dark flour.”

Valerie Young, who brought together the Boothbay Treasures group, made a brief speech thanking everyone that came. She especially thanked the school for having the dinner and the cafeteria staff for all their hard work.

“It was so nice of Eileen and the school to offer up this joint effort,” Young said after her speech. “It's the perfect culmination of Giving Tuesday and a fantastic end to this year's efforts. It's a great example of collaboration.”

According to Young, five more nonprofits in the Boothbay Region have already contacted her about joining the group next year.

Related: The Boothbay region ‘treasures’ its local nonprofits