MILO – As the youngest in a family of 20 and a mother of five, Freda Cook is accustomed to cooking for crowds during the holidays.

That’s one reason she and her husband, Everett, felt compelled to play host to those who might otherwise be alone on Christmas.

So on Monday, the Cooks presented their third annual townwide Christmas dinner. The meal, which was free, was open to anyone who wanted to come.

“It’s actually more like a countywide dinner,” Freda Everett said. “We get people from all over. It’s especially for people who want company. I’m number 18 in my family. I can’t even imagine being alone at Christmas. It’s just great to see people come together like this.”

About a dozen volunteers, among them several members of the Penquis High School Key Club, turned out to help set up and wait on tables, lend a hand in the kitchen and, in the spirit of small-town hospitality, make people feel welcome, said the Rev. Betty Higgins, pastor of United Methodist congregations in Milo and Brownville.

Higgins signed on as a volunteer along with the Rev. Grace Bartlett, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Bangor.

By the end of the event, some 50 people had been served Christmas dinner at the town hall, and another 20 had meals delivered to their homes.

“They do it out of the kindness of their hearts,” said Trelba Rollins, a volunteer who delivered Christmas dinners to those unable to come to the town hall.

The Cooks, who own the Hitching Post Bed and Breakfast on High Street and also have a catering business, began preparing for the dinner last week, after having catered 18 holiday parties, which kept them busy for much of the early part of the month.

Early Monday morning, they set up shop in the kitchen at Milo’s town hall and got to work on the rest of the preparations.

The Christmas 2000 menu featured ham – the Cooks cooked 45 pounds of it – baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli casserole, yeast rolls, cold drinks and coffee. For dessert, diners had a choice of mince pie or fruit salad.

Avis Spear, 87, whose husband died three years ago, attended her first community Christmas dinner on Monday.

“Oh, it’s great,” Spear said of the food and the company. “It’s nice to be able to get out and eat with people.”

Spear caught a ride to the town hall in the center of town with her neighbor, Reuben Lancaster, who is in his early 80s. They were joined there by a friend, Meta Staples, who recently moved back to the area from Florida. She said she didn’t have any particular plans for Christmas dinner because her family wasn’t arriving until Wednesday.

“We’re enjoying this dinner,” said Lancaster, who appeared to know just about everyone in town and regaled his table-mates with stories and good-natured teasing.

Lancaster, president of the historical society for nearby Brownville and Brownville Junction, is perhaps best known for the market on Elm Street he owned and operated for 27 years before retiring in the mid-1990s.

Ronald Gould, who retired from Great Northern Paper Co. in 1974, and Mickey Stockwell, who recently moved back to the area after retiring from a job in Connecticut, also stopped by for ham and all the fixings. Gould said he is a regular at the Cooks’ community dinners. In previous years, he noted, the couple hosted Thanksgiving dinners.