MAKALAPA — Among all of the fidgeting and forgotten lines that come with any first-grade Thanksgiving play, what's truly important about tonight's performance by 30 Navy Hale Keiki students has not been lost on Abby King, who plays the role of the turkey.

"The message of the play is about sharing and being nice," 6-year-old Abby said after their first dress rehearsal Tuesday. "But we really need to get money for Meals on Wheels because they help customers that can't cook for themselves."

Monique Raduziner teaches one of the two first-grade classes that are combining their 30 students for tonight's 6:30 p.m. dinner theater performance at the Moanalua Terrace Community Center.

Raduziner has coordinated canned food drives at the private school before to help the needy.

"But the parents end up buying the food at the grocery store and the kids just don't get it," she said. "This time, they get it."

She invited representatives from Hawaii Meals on Wheels to talk to the students about the growing need among senior citizens, the disabled and others who benefit from a hot meal delivered to their homes.

Then the kids went out and sold 87 tickets — at $12 each — to neighbors, family and community members, who will see them play the roles of various kinds of food, family pets and grandparents while the audience enjoys a meal of chicken katsu, barbecued chicken, short ribs, mac salad and fried rice.

After the food for the performance was paid for, the classes ended up with $500 in profit that they'll donate tonight to Hawaii Meals on Wheels at the play's start.

The money will provide "50 meals for someone who couldn't pay for it," said Deena Ahakuelo, program coordinator for Hawaii Meals on Wheels, which serves 300 meals every day.

At the beginning of this year, Hawaii Meals on Wheels — one of a dozen Meals on Wheels programs on O'ahu — had a waiting list of about 150 people. But through client attrition and donations like the one from these first-graders, the waiting list has since been narrowed to just 10 people, Ahakuelo said.

"Every little bit counts," Ahakuelo said. "Some people even bring in their kids' piggy banks after they've been saving up. It all adds up."

Perhaps more importantly, Ahakuelo said, the children at Navy Hale Keiki are learning early that their efforts can help those in need.

"It is wonderful," Ahakuelo said. "I do believe that they remember that they helped with a worthy cause and that it's part of giving back. It does stick with them and then they become the next wave of volunteers."

In her role as the turkey, Abby at first tells the audience, "I'm the main traditional dish so I must be the best — in fact I am the best."

But later, after foods such as sushi, milk and pie talk about their own contributions to the Thanksgiving feast, Abby the turkey realizes, "no — all of the food is the best."

It's a simple message to work together and "not make fun of each other," said Ryan Fitzgerald, 6 1/2, of Mäkaha, who plays the family patriarch, or "grandpa."

But the bigger lesson of the play is that even a 6-year-old can help feed those who don't have enough to eat.

"We're helping give food to people who can't cook for themselves," Ryan said. "Then Meals on Wheels goes door-to-door and brings them lunch or dinner."

And the name of the play seems to sum up the theme for tonight.

It's called "We're All In This Together."