MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) - The 55th Annual Mr. Thanksgiving Dinner served meals to community members Thursday evening at Mercado on Fifth in Moline.

The event ran from 4 to 7 p.m., providing free meals to anyone who needed them. R.I.A. Federal Credit Union helped cover costs this year, with all seven branch locations collecting donations leading up to Thanksgiving.

Hy-Vee prepared the meals and helped serve them, continuing a partnership that organizes the annual dinner.

Bob Vogelbaugh, known as Mr. Thanksgiving, said the tradition began at his grocery store to address loneliness during the holiday.

“What are you going to do for the upcoming holiday? And it was almost a unison answer, it was another day to be alone, and a 20 watt bulb. And I had a stove, a walk-in cooler, I had these other

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