AUGUSTA — Seven members of Farmington Elks Lodge No. 2430 were among the more than 750 who prepared food for the recent 150th anniversary celebration of the Togus VA Medical Center.

The group cooked 900 pounds of chicken, 1,000 pounds of potatoes, and 250 hamburgers and hot dogs.

Fifty Elk members from lodges across the state attended, along with some nonmembers. Boy Scouts from Troop 603 in Augusta helped, said Philip O’Brion, secretary of the state association and Farmington member.

O’Brion, committee chairman for the Togus event, organized the meal after the association helped with the Togus 125th anniversary celebration in 1991, he said.

The committee started planning in May. O’Brion asked for help from all lodges across the state. He was overwhelmed with the response, he said.

“We (the Elks) are pretty patriotic,” O’Brion said. “Our slogan is ‘as long as there are veterans, the Elks will never forget them.'”

Borrowing pits from the local American Legion, they started cooking around 6 a.m. and served from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.