At 12:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Rick Goeringer had marked down 130 diners for the Bullock Hotel’s 12th annual community thanksgiving dinner.

“If it’s like previous years, there could be 20 people waiting in line,” Goeringer said.

Donations for the dinner benefit the Lead/Deadwood Ministerial Association, of which Goeringer is a part.

“The donations go toward helping indigents throughout the year. This is the single biggest help to us. The donations will be enough to help us get through the year,” Goeringer said.

Overseeing the feast was Donna Keller, co-owner of the Bullock Hotel, and manger Bobbie Williams.

“We started at 7 (Wednesday) morning,” Donna Keller said. “We made seven turkeys, and we’ll go through all of them.”

In addition to the turkeys, the meal included sliced ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, rolls and sweet potatoes.

“Don’t forget the sweet potatoes,” Sandy Weier, one of the many volunteers, reminded diners as they came through the serving line.

Weier was one of the volunteers who helped ease the burden of serving about 300 people. Goeringer expected 40-50 volunteers to pass through during the three-hour meal. The first shift included volunteers from Saddle Mountain Mission and other local church and community groups.

“Our church came out last year and really enjoyed it,” said Jim Grass, one of the Saddle Mountain Mission volunteers. “We’ll be here for as long as we’re needed.”

Bobbie Williams smiled as she indicated her pleasure with the volunteer groups.

“Each year, we get more volunteers and more volunteers,” she said.

“We served around 250 last year,” Donna Keller said. “I am anticipating more this year.”

Every attempt has been made by the Bullock Hotel to make their Thanksgiving dinner a true community affair.

“They’ll carry out meals to the workers at the competing casinos,” Goeringer said. “You stay here long enough, and you’ll see gamblers, workers, church people. It’s really the whole community.”

Myra and Tony Keller of Spearfish -- no relation to the Kellers who own the Bullock -- came to Deadwood to partake of the meal for the first time.

“We’ve meant to do it for years,” Tony Keller said. “I said this year we’re going to do it. All of it was fantastic. God bless these people for doing this.”

“Some of the people who come need this meal,” Goeringer said. “Even they’ll give a buck or two.”