Thanksgiving was a day for giving back at Pat’s Pizza and Bistro in Bethlehem, as the eatery at 1426 W. Broad St. served up 200 free meals to members of the community in need. The meals were given out to each of the first 200 locals without any criteria having to be met.

Owner Yianni Kyziridis and volunteer staff and community members dished out the take-out meals beginning at 11 a.m. until the last meal was picked up around 2 p.m. Kyziridis, who arrived to prepare the meals of turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn and green beans at 3:30 a.m., said 12 deliveries were made, the furthest one in Emmaus, to those who did not have transportation services available to them.

Kyziridis said he was contacted by people in New York and Florida asking him to take care of their Bethlehem-area elderly residents with meals, as they could not travel to Bethlehem because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That sparked Kyziridis to offer the free meals.

“We also told the City of Bethlehem that any police, firefighter or EMS first responders on duty were welcome to come for a meal,” said Kyziridis, who expressed profound thanks to volunteers from his staff and community who helped make this day to give thanks a success. “It was a blessed day for all,” Kyziridis said.