Any and all residents of La Vergne are invited to bring their appetites and join students at LaVergne High School for a free community meal.

JROTC cadets at the school are hosting the dinner, which will be held on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 5-7 p.m. in the LHS cafeteria.

"We're inviting families, friends and so forth in the community," Lt. Col. (Ret.) Glenn Shirley said. "Our cadets are going to be cooking and serving those meals."

The meal will consist of turkey, ham, dressing, corn, green beans, dessert and more, Shirley said.

This year is the second time the cadets have held such an event. They first offered the meal last Christmas season, but because it was held the weekend after schools let out for winter break, the attendance was less than they had hoped, Shirley said.

"We moved it up a week. Hopefully that will change and get some more people out," Shirley explained.

There are 194 students in the JROTC program at LaVergne. To raise money to cover the meals, the students have been holding "spare-change Fridays" throughout the school year.

Shirley says the goal this year is to serve 300 community members. LaVergne Middle School held a similar event at Thanksgiving, which is where the LaVergne High students got the idea for their community meal.