TOMS RIVER, NJ — As families sat down to Thanksgiving dinner across Toms River on Thursday, dishing out mashed potatoes and digging into stuffing, there were several families who enjoyed a hearty meal thanks to the efforts of the Toms River South National Honor Society.

On Tuesday, members of the honor society headed over to the Ohana Grill in Lavallette and loaded up 44 turkey dinners, complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls and pie for Thanksgiving dinners, and delivered them to needy families in the school district. It's an effort that's been going on for more than 20 years, said Mary Highton, the Toms River South teacher and National Honor Society adviser, who participated as a student when she was in high school.

"This (44 families) is the largest number of dinners we've done" in her eight years as adviser, Highton said. And those all are due to the work of the students, who raise money through a variety of fundraisers, from candle sales to "Gobble-grams," Thanksgiving messages delivered to the student body at Toms River South on the day before Thanksgiving. "This wouldn't be possible without all of the students," said James Costello, the owner and chef at the Ohana Grill, which has been cooking the dinners for the Toms River South effort for three years now. Costello's wife is a teacher at Toms River South, which is how they became involved in the first place.

"It's just a great thing to be a part of," Costello said Tuesday evening after Highton and her students had picked up the dinners. "We're blessed that we run a successful business, and I have the wherewithal and the time to help out." "It's important to be thankful for what you have and help others," Costello said.

The time commitment is significant. Costello said they cooked all day Sunday and Monday to prepare the meals, peeling more than 100 pounds of potatoes, cooking the turkeys and walking them across Route 35 to cool in the refrigerator at Lavallette Liquors, which has given the project an assist each of the last three years by providing storage.

"We couldn't do it without their help," Costello said, from the storage space to having an employee come in early on delivery day so the Toms River South students could load up.

Costello said they also had help from Harvest House, which supplies the restaurant with rolls and breads. Harvest House donated the rolls for the dinners at no cost "When I put the order in, he said, 'Hey, is this that charity thing you do?' and then he didn't charge us for the rolls," Costello said.