Some people's Thanksgiving may be a little fuller this Thursday, thanks to student and community efforts to make sure those in need can have a full holiday meal.

Local charities and student groups in the Penn State community are working to make the Thanksgiving holiday a little more festive this year by providing traditional Thanksgiving food for needy families.

Pat Coble, executive director of the State College Area Food Bank, 208 W. Foster Ave., said the winter is always the busiest time of the year, and this year is especially hard for the 800 families throughout State College that the food bank typically serves.

"This year, things are very, very tight for many families," Coble said. "And there's one main reason why, and that's the high costs of fuel."

Coble said the best way to help those families is to help them save money on food, and the food bank's coordinated efforts with the Girl and Boy Scouts is doing just that. She said that through the Scouts' combined effort, they usually collect 40,000 to 45,000 pounds of food.

"We try to make everybody's holiday nice, and we hand out extra food like mashed potatoes [and] cranberries," Coble added. "We make sure everybody has the makings of a holiday meal."

Coble also said there are several community holiday meals being held for Thanksgiving. The biggest is a joint effort between the Salvation Army and several churches tomorrow evening.

The dinner will be held at the State College Assembly of God, 2201 University Drive, and will provide a full holiday meal for families.

"They are even providing transportation to the church and delivering meals for those who can't make it there on their own," Coble said.

Romayne Naylor, emergency services director for the Centre Communities Chapter of the American Red Cross, said she has been working with the youth group from the University Baptist & Brethren Church, 411 S. Burrowes St., to serve Thanksgiving dinner for Hurricane Katrina families that have relocated to State College.

Pat Gong, director of Christian education for the church, said the children and parents in the congregation just wanted to do something for Katrina victims who had lost so much.

"Our kids love to cook," Gong said. "They'll be in here by 1 o'clock doing all the cooking and will hopefully be ready to serve by 6 p.m., since we are expecting around 40 people."

Local supermarkets are also contributing money and groceries to food banks in the area to make sure everyone can have a Thanksgiving holiday meal.

Denny Hopkins, vice president of advertising and public relations for Giant Food Stores, said its two State College stores have been heavily involved in Thanksgiving charity efforts.

"We just completed our Giant Bags Hunger Program, where cashiers ask customers if they want to donate a dollar toward local food banks," Hopkins said. "Customers can also earn a free turkey from our Thanksgiving Turkey Rewards and one of our options is, rather than taking it, they can donate it to a local food bank instead."

Hopkins said that between the two local stores, Giant has raised around $4,000 and donated 220 turkeys.

Student groups are also joined the effort by bringing Thanksgiving baskets full of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gift certificates for turkey to drop-off locations.

Susan James, staff assistant for the Center for Student Engagement, said the basket drive was coordinated with The AIDS Project and gathered 10 baskets for those in need.