BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- The plate didn't look like it needed washing when 9-year-old Allen Spahni was done with it. He scraped every bit of turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and corn into his mouth, then debated whether to have lemon or spice cake.
"Today, instead of my eyes being bigger than my stomach, my stomach's bigger than my eyes," Allen said.
A piece of lemon cake won out Thursday during the free lunch offered by the Chili Company Restaurant in Lebanon. Allen still snagged a bit of spice cake from his grandma, Donna Collins, 53.
New owners Rick Holliday, his mother, Ann Gosney, and sister, Vicky Tucker, wanted to make sure no one in Lebanon was hungry Thursday. They bought 10 turkeys and eight hams, had peeled 150 pounds of potatoes by noon, and baked dozens of pies and cakes.
"We always have so much on our table," Mr. Holliday said.
Allen and brother John's parents work, said Ms. Collins, but money still is tight at home. She's waiting for her Social Security to kick in. Friend Doris Smith, 62, spreads out food stamps to buy the basics each month.
"It's enough to get coffee, bread and eggs," Ms. Smith
said. "Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can throw in a pound of bologna."
Without the Chili Company's generosity, Ms. Smith said lunch Thursday would have been half a peanut butter sandwich.
"It sure is a treat," Ms. Smith said. "I don't eat like this at home. On $17 of food stamps a month, you just can't eat like this." Helping Ms. Smith and other area residents go home with a full belly was exactly why Jenny Brinkman gave up her last shopping day to volunteer.
"I wanted to show somebody we care," she said.
Although the Chili Company delivered more than 50 meals, volunteers outnumbered the lunch guests at the restaurant about three to one. The low turnout could be due in part because it was the event's first year, Mr. Holliday said.
Word of mouth may help next year, but Jenny's mom, Leslie Brinkman, said she believes the volunteers have a bigger obstacle.
"Lebanon is a very conservative town. Just because some people aren't as fortunate, they still have the same human emotions of pride," Mrs. Brinkman said. "It's hard to say, 'I need help. I can't feed my family.' "
The problem of poverty or homelessness isn't as apparent in Lebanon as in downtown Cincinnati or other metropolitan cities, she said.
"Everybody thinks Lebanon is this cute little antique town, and there's no problem," Mrs. Brinkman said. "But it's definitely there."
