THROOP - There is nothing like a good home-cooked, comforting meal on a cold winter afternoon to draw people together.

Throw in a good cause and there is a recipe for a successful fundraiser.

Saturday afternoon many gathered at the Throop Firehouse to help support efforts to create a Throop sports complex.

Saturday evening's pasta dinner was the most recent dinner geared toward raising funds for the sports complex that will include baseball, softball and soccer fields as well as concession stands and a walking track.

Margaret Morgenthaler, recreation director in the town, said that throughout the summer months the park on Turnpike Road is a busy place for children in the town to spend their days.

"We do a lot with arts and crafts and things like that," Morgenthaler said. "It is all free of charge and gives the kids a place to go and something to do right here in town."

Morgenthaler said that through the recreation department various other efforts like an Easter Egg hunt and Halloween party are also hosted by the department.

Now the recreation department is focused in on creating a sports complex that will allow the youth teams in the town to have a home field as well as giving the town other recreational options.

"We wanted to do something to give the kids more options," Morgenthaler said. "Right now they have to travel to play games and things and we want them to be able to have a home field."

Morgenthaler said that years ago there were baseball fields, but as the population shifted these fields fell to the wayside and homes have since been built on the site of the old fields.

The idea of creating a sports facility has been around for at least a decade.

When the fire district offered the use of the land behind and adjacent to the firehouse, the complex had a place to call home and town supervisor Bill Tarby and the rest of the town council agreed that this was a project that the town needed.

Since then, the land has been graded and seeded; now it is just a matter of raising the necessary funds to get the project up and running.

Morgenthaler said that town zoning officer Tom Weed hosted a roast beef dinner in the fall to get the ball rolling on fundraising and now she and other committee members have picked up the torch with Saturday's dinner, which drew many in the community who were eager to lend a helping hand.

Residents like Bonnie Summerville remember when there were fields in town and want to see kids playing on fields in town again.

"I'm just here to support the kids," Summerville said. "I think it is wonderful they are doing this. They had

fields here years ago and I think it is a wonderful idea for the kids now."

With mounds of pasta and meatballs, bread and salad and a table full of desserts, there was plenty of incentive to stop by and grab a bite to eat.

Angela Stabinsky of Throop brought her sons, Eric, 9, and Mason, 6, who were eager to hit the dessert table.

With her own children playing sports, Stabinsky is no stranger to traveling to places like Port Byron and Conquest for games and is happy to see the town support an effort like this.

"I think it will be nice to have a home field," Stabinsky said. "They've played baseball and football and my daughter played soccer for nine years. So I think it will be great to have a field here for all those things for the kids to use."

Morgenthaler said that the support of the community for this initiative has been impressive and Saturday was no exception.

"I think people know this is a project that will benefit kids," Morgenthaler said. "And I think it shows we have a very generous community and all the members of the committee and all the people that are cooking and people that just ask how they can help out. The people here love to help."

Morgenthaler said that so far there is no time line for the project yet, but she anticipates that by this summer, there will be some forward progress.

The firehouse will host another pasta dinner fundraiser March 8.