In Freeport, spaghetti is synonymous with the White Star Fraternal Society.

For the past 79 years, the Italian meal has been served there, the last Sunday of the month and on every Sunday in its early days.

Covid-19 has interrupted these family dinners, but it won’t stop members of the society from finding a way to still cook it for the community.

On Friday atlunchtime, anyone can come by Next¬Home Dynamic, a real estate agency, on Fifth Avenue in Freeport, and pick up spaghetti, a meatball if they want one, plus a salad — all packaged and ready to go.

The to-go meals will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The real estate agency is owned by Heidi Powell.

White Star is donating the meals to Feeding Freeport, an initiative to provide lunch for whoever needs it. The program was founded by Jackie Gaughan of South Buffalo. She started it on March 17 with 113 egg salad sandwiches and peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches made by her family.

Since then, with assistance from across the community, they’ve served over 8,000 meals.

She first partnered with her church, Christ Community Fellowship, to sponsor the food purchases and created a GoFundMe page.

They’ve been working with Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market in Leechburg for food orders as well as acquiring meals from restaurants and other businesses such as White Star.

White Star board member George Jugovic contacted Gaughan about the donation. They will be cooking the spaghetti fresh beginning at 6:30 a.m. and have it ready by 11 a.m.

Doug Bonnet and Bill and Lori Hewitt will help make the sauce, which is from the recipe of her great aunt, Mary Lepkowski.

The ingredients are a secret, Lori Hewitt said. Other White Star members will help prepare the meals.

“The community has supported us for all these years that we thought this was a way to support the community,” Lori Hewitt said. “It’s our way of saying ‘thank you,’ to everyone who has come to our spaghetti dinners.

”People might be struggling during this time so we want to do what we can. The spaghetti we hope will give people the feeling of eating a hometown meal, one they know from having had it before.”

Jugovic said he and the other members are passionate about keeping the spaghetti dinner tradition alive and plan to continue the event once things reopen.

“We know there are people who need these meals,” he said. “And we believe spaghetti is universal. People love an Italian meal, sitting around the table, enjoying this food. We can’t give them a get together right at the moment, but we can still give them good, tasty food.”

He said they are planning for 350 to 400 meals.

“We are so grateful for White Star and everyone who has partnered with us to help,” Gaughan said. “This is an amazing community right here. This town has always provided no matter what the level of need.

“When you see someone smiling when you give them food, it warms your heart.”

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