VIDALIA &8212; This family comes from a lot of different places &8212; California, Nevada, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.

But for FEMA workers Pat and Danny Lynn, Ryan Lehnert, Joshua Akright, Brandon Reiche and Bobby Kaslick, having people to share Thanksgiving dinner with is something precious.

&8220;This is like family now,&8221; Ryan Lehnert said. &8220;You get close spending five weeks together on this trip.&8221;

The mobile team, including bus driver Sassy Kite and dogs Molly, a German shepherd, and Madelyn, a yellow Lab, has traveled around Mississippi for the past month working at Disaster Recovery Centers to help Katrina evacuees.

At the Fayette DRC where they are now, the work primarily consists of processing disaster claim forms and appeals.

&8220;People come in and want to do status checks on their appeals,&8221; Pat Lynn said. &8220;Then we see if there&8217;s anything else we can assist them on.&8221;

Sunday they will leave for a hotel in Brookhaven to work at a DRC in Bude, after which they&8217;ll be at the Natchez Ramada to work at a DRC in Woodville.

But those are only the the latest legs of the journey through Mississippi. Since being put together, the group has been in Vicksburg, Yazoo City, Forest, Raleigh and Quitman.

Thursday was a rare day off for the team, and they took advantage of the time.

&8220;I walked the Riverfront and read about the history of the area,&8221;Akright said.

Lehnert rode his motorcycle around the Miss-Lou.

But dinner was a chance to eat, laugh and tell stories, something the group did with gusto.

&8220;We probably look like a pretty motley crew now,&8221; Akright said.

Akright, Lehnert, Reiche and Kaslick are all firefighters, at least when they aren&8217;t working for FEMA.

&8220;You&8217;ve probably never seen firefighters with facial hair before,&8221; Lehnert said.

The only complaint Thursday was a small one.

&8220;They didn&8217;t have any mashed potatoes and gravy,&8221; Akright said.