<p>Atlanta's hungry and homeless filled their stomachs and their spirits Thursday at the city's largest Thanksgiving dinner _ which was expected to grow even larger this year with the attendance of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.</p><p>It was a happy day for Laura Kuik, who needed some good luck after having to leave New Orleans in September just four days after she moved to the city to "get away from a problem" in Texas.</p><p>"It was either stay there and get killed or leave," said Kuik, 54, who is now living in a local shelter but hopes to find housing soon. "There's nothing left for me in Texas or New Orleans."</p><p>Organizers with Hosea Feed the Hungry & Homeless expected at least 6,000 more people at Turner Field this year's event. The nonprofit agency, which also feeds people at Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Easter, serves about 18,000 meals at each dinner.</p><p>But the day wasn't just about the feast. The morning began with a prayer service, and after a meal of turkey, corn, green beans, yams and chocolate cake or ice cream, guests could take advantage of a number of services, including a beauty and barber shop, clothing, counseling, free long-distance telephone calls and housing assistance.</p><p>Regina Taylor came with her three children. The 46-year-old Ft. Myers, Fla., woman had to evacuate to Atlanta when Hurricane Wilma threatened her home. When she tried to go back, she said, "There was nothing to go back to."</p><p>"We're tired of the storms," said Taylor, who said she and her family survived hurricanes Charley, Ivan and Frances.</p><p>"We're going to try to stay up here," she said.</p><p>After she ate, Taylor dropped off her two sons, 12-year-old Tresjuan and 9-year-old Trevon and her 8-year-old Tre'Maya, at the children's play area before heading to the job fair _ the first held in conjunction with the dinner.</p><p>Also among the hopeful hires was Stephen Tookes of Lithonia, who said he hoped to get permanent work as a cook in a hotel or chain restaurant.</p><p>"I've been doing it for six years. I'm very good at it," Tookes said as he filled out forms.</p><p>Tookes, 44, heard about the dinner and job fair on the local news and said he was grateful because he did not have the money to be with his family this year.</p><p>"I think it's a blessing," he said.</p><p>The event also lifted the spirits of co-director Elisabeth Omilami, whose father, civil rights icon Hosea Williams, started the dinner in 1971. Omilami hobbled to Turner Field after she was hospitalized for a week for an injury to her right thigh due to an allergic reaction to medication.</p><p>"I'm fine. I know it doesn't look like it," she said at a press conference before the dinner, standing beside her husband, Afemo, and surrounded by sponsors and volunteers.</p><p>She smiled, looking out into the crowd and seeing the first wave of guests.</p><p>"This is a very special Thanksgiving."</p><p>_____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cde3cc)</p>
