Culinary students from Pearl River Central High School and Poplarville High School worked together to host a Thanksgiving dinner for citizens of north Pearl River County on Thursday.

The event took place at the Raine Street Community Center in Poplarville and provided meals to more than 30 citizens. They were treated to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner cooked by students in the culinary courses.

“The kids wanted to do something for the community and my grandma told me about the Raine Street Community Center hosting an annual Thanksgiving dinner, so I made some calls to figure out how we could help,” Pearl River Central culinary instructor Quentin McCardle said.

“I contacted Amanda Pankrats, culinary instructor at Poplarville, and she was on board and we were able to set it up and plan the whole event.”

The Poplarville culinary class has also been involved in other community service activities throughout the year, student Jennifer Merritt said.

“I enjoy helping in events like these because we get to help make a difference within our community,” Merritt said.

The Poplarville culinary class includes instructor Pankrats and students Wisteria Benjamen, Molly Clark, Tiler Cantey, Scott Desmond, Billy Granger, Demere Johnson, Hannah Robino, Jordan Tempe, Mina Khachaturian, Seth Cantrel, Madison Necaise, Logan Shocky and Merritt.

Meanwhile, instructor McCardle and culinary director Kelli Beech are part of the Pearl River Central culinary class.

Students in the class include Savanna Duncan, Savannah Van Kregtan, Monica Penton, Jackson Lott, Elaina Harwell, Devon Meyers, Alex Caro, Eli Lee, Julian Hernandez, Alivia Lona and Donald Robinson.

“We had a lot of fun preparing and hosting this event and we’ll definitely look forward to doing it again next year,” McCardle said.