South Whidbey school bus driver Tom Arhontas is getting ready for his most important route of the year.

The route will take him on a scattered path all over South Whidbey and as far north as Coupeville. It will take a team of volunteers to complete his task, and the work will be fast-paced and relentless.

He wouldn’t spend Thanksgiving any other way.

Arhontas and the volunteers with South Whidbey Mobile Turkey Unit are gearing up for a holiday season of delivering meals to shut-ins and families in need on Thanksgiving morning.

Originally begun in 1999 simply as a service for people unable to leave their home on Thanksgiving, Mobile Turkey Unit delivered 25 dinners in its first year.

“At the time I was on Whidbey by myself and I just felt this need in the community,” Arhontas said.

Last year, the Turkey Unit brought Thanksgiving dinner to 165 homes. This year, the program grows to include financially challenged families through cooperation with Family Resource Center. The area of service will also expand to include Coupeville.

However, funds and supplies are still needed to ensure the Mobile Turkey Unit will be able to spread the gobble gobble this Thanksgiving. The group is not alone in this regard.

Bill Nance, executive director of Help House in Oak Harbor, said the North Whidbey foodbank run by his organization is preparing to hand-out 650 holiday baskets filled to the brim with all the trimmings this Thanksgiving.

“The last couple of months have been off the charts,” he said of islanders’ growing needs.

Building up to the holidays, Help House has been delivering 500 food baskets per month for the last three months. It’s a growing demand Nance attributes to hard economic times and the fact that a number of regional businesses are laying off employees.

Help House’s staff consists of two full-time, two part-time employees, and a dozen volunteers. During the weeks before Thanksgiving, the staff can increase to 20 volunteers per day.

“We have lots of volunteers come through during the holidays because its rewarding for them to be able to do something for people who might not have as much or at all,” Nance said. “Thanksgiving just comes down to helping people get through another day.”

If it wasn’t for community support from schools, churches and service organizations, Help House would be helpless.

“We couldn’t handle as many people and families as we do around the holidays without the help of the community,” he said.

Rita Burns understands. Burns is the food bank coordinator at South Whidbey’s Good Cheer foodbank. While on South Whidbey the holiday demand for food is on a smaller scale, Burns’ job is not easy. Roughly 200 families have signed-up since Nov. 1 to receive a Thanksgiving basket through Good Cheer. This number is up from 125 baskets last year, and Burns is planning to be ready with 300 baskets for any last minute needs based on already booming fall demand.

In addition to the surplus workload to prepare holiday boxes, Good Cheer volunteers must also distribute an average of 178 food boxes monthly. Over 200 food boxes were given out in September, according to Burns.

“There’d be a lot of hungry people on South Whidbey if all the donations stopped,” she said.

While donations of time and food items are essential and always accepted during the holidays, when it comes down to it monetary donations are ideal to food banks and nonprofits feeding Whidbey islanders.

“I can take your dollar and turn it into six and end up feeding more families” Burns said, explaining that food banks such as Good Cheer receive purchasing discounts because of their nonprofit status and often buy in bulk from food distribution warehouses.

Whether in need or not this Thanksgiving, there will be a spot at the table for everyone. Both the American Legion and the Langley CMA Church will hold free dinners, with each planning to set the table for 300 diners.

“We just want to make certain everyone has a place to go this Thanksgiving and in a place where they feel comfortable,” said Legion post commander John C. Martin.

Both the Legion and CMA Church stress that the dinners are a gathering celebration for all. Plus, no one has to draw straws to see who washes the dishes. To extend this community gathering, the American Legion plans to offer shuttle service to bring shut-ins to the post’s meal. At the Langley CMA Church, music will accompany dinner.

But before they can think about dinner, volunteer cooks will be busy Thanksgiving morning. On Thursday, the break room at the South Whidbey Schools bus barn will be home base of Mobile Turkey Unit operations. Arhontas, route coordinators Todd Brager, Pete Lopez and Art Taylor and about a dozen volunteers will work an assembly line to package the meals and get them out the door.

Though Mobile Turkey Unit delivery drivers may not get to say “Happy Thanksgiving” at all the households they visit, Arhontas said they know they’re doing good. They know as the walk away, hear the door open, and see hands reach out for the food package that someone — maybe a whole family — is going to sit down to dinner that night.