Thanksgiving meals were handed out to people who need a meal this holiday.

Thousands of people were at the Salvation Army in McAllen to get a meal. Volunteers prepped classic Thanksgiving foods and made 2,000 plates starting at 5 a.m. 

Some volunteers have made volunteering a tradition with their church groups, but Salvation Army Community Liaison Jorge Rodriguez says it's a blessing that so many people chose to spend their time giving back.

"I was not expecting that, I mean we pushed hard...we were just sharing it all over our social media and the community came out, really back here we only have a few staff members, but we have 25 or 30 volunteers that were hitting it hard this morning," Rodriguez said.

The Salvation Army will serve food until 2 p.m. So far, they have already served close to 800 plates to the community.