Every Friday for 30 years, the smell of homemade spaghetti sauce has wafted through the neighborhood behind Choctaw Plaza on Racetrack Road. That’s how long members of the Joseph B. Franzalia, Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge #2422 have been hosting an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner in the metal-sided building on the block-long South Drive.

But this Friday will be their last. The crowds have shrunk over the years, as has the lodge’s membership. President Kathy Foster said she sees the same struggle in other community service organizations. “There are more options now for inexpensive Friday night dining,” she said of their Monday decision to discontinue the dinners. “It breaks our hearts. A lot of us have been cooking there for a long time.