AUBURN – Every few booths, a family sat eating Thanksgiving dinner. Wait staff loitered about offering refills, balloons and tempting desserts – strawberry ice cream sundaes, cheesecake or traditional apple pie.

Blond, energetic Douglas Mason Jr., 7, ordered hot fudge and cherries on ice cream after a meal that had been “super. No, no, tremendous.”

Applebee’s opened from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday with an entirely volunteer staff serving food from the Good Shepard Food Pantry.

Prep cook Rick Burnham was supposed to be there. Instead, his mom called every few hours to give updates to friends from his hospital bed at Central Maine Medical Center.

The 22-year-old was hit by a car crossing Court Street at sunset Wednesday, shortly after getting off work. Police initially described his injuries as life-threatening. The hospital declined to release any information on his condition Thursday, at the family’s request.

“It just stinks to have something bad happen to such a good person,” co-worker Ashley Wood said Thursday.

She and others planned to bring food and flowers to his family after the shift. “It’s rough … because he was supposed to be here with us,” she said.

When the idea for the Thanksgiving meal first came up, 80 percent of his staff willingly donated their time to preparing, serving and cleaning up, according to General Manager Sam Mourad.

It wasn’t at all about publicity, he said. The restaurant has given money to causes in the past, but it didn’t feel like enough.

The restaurant partnered with the food pantry, which is supported by St. Mary’s hospital.

Dead River donated 15 turkeys, which were cooked all at once in the large convection ovens of Campus Cuisine at the hospital, said Mike Grimmer, St. Mary’s vice president of facilities.

Applebee’s doesn’t have ovens.

Instead the staff readied close to 200 pounds of potatoes, 40 boxes of stuffing, seven cheesecakes, nine gallons of ice cream and 150 servings of apple pie, plus peas, carrots, beets and cranberries.

When someone early on suggested on using paper plates or a buffet line, Mourad said he didn’t want that. People could get that kind of service elsewhere.

“We want to give them the experience the paying guest gets. We went to pamper them; this is a big day,” he said.

Forty tickets for the free meal were given to New Beginnings and the rest went to food pantry clients. Nearly 180 tickets were given out, and by 1:20 p.m., 54 meals had been served.

Grimmer said next year more tickets could be available, and it would make sense to add transportation help in case people had a difficult time getting to the Center Street restaurant.

Heather Mason, Douglas’ mom, ate with her husband, their five children and a family friend. She said she was initially shocked when she got the meal offer.

“I didn’t know they did things like this,” she said. “We’ve never eaten here before.”

Employee Erica Langelier said she was struck by children’s reactions. “The kids are the best part, just to see how happy they are.” So many came through the door in nice outfits and carefully combed hair.

She had one woman tell her she had only been out to eat once before, to a Burger King, on her birthday.

Grimmer called it a “wonderful example” of business and charity working together. The Good Shepard Food Pantry gives food for 2,500 families each month.

The staff planned to eat a Thanksgiving meal together after the last guest had gone home. Leftovers were destined for Trinity Episcopal Church.

Wood, who volunteered her time along with fianc and cook Fred Coulombe, said it was a rewarding day. “One lady told us she never had a better Thanksgiving experience since she was a kid.”

She described Burnham, who has worked at the restaurant for almost two years, as a generous person. She and colleagues were already planning ways to raise money to help his family with medical costs.

Investigating Officer Dan Davies said Burnham was in stable condition Thursday evening. He said there would be no charges against the 72-year-old driver of the vehicle that struck him. Burnham was wearing dark clothes and wasn’t in a crosswalk.

Earlier at Applebee’s, as the lunch crowd thinned out, Wood had recieved a bedside update. She turned to the woman next to her and said, both excited and relieved, “He woke up; Rick woke up. What a good Thanksgiving.”