CHICAGO (CBS) – Most nights, you see Patrick “Flip” Adkins and Bull Bullard doing tricks on the basketball court, but today they were behind the counter serving up a pre-Thanksgiving feast to dozens of needy families at Cornerstone Community Outreach in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

“I love coming back to Chicago and helping the community,” said Adkins, who attended and played basketball for Austin’s North Lawndale High School.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Lisa Fielding reports

The method to their quick serving techniques?

“It’s the pick and pass. It comes natural to Flip and me,” said Bullard, a Detroit native who touts his dunks and his sense of humor as his specialty.

Cornerstone has been in the Uptown neighborhood since 1989. Volunteer Lyda Jackson says they serve thousands of needy families each year. She says the face of the hungry and homeless is changing.

“People like you and me who may have lost their jobs, lost their homes in the mortgage crisis injured on the job or maybe they’ve gotten ill and they don’t have that income coming in and have become homeless,” Jackson said.

She says they will be serving a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings tomorrow to up to 1,000 people.

The Globetrotters are in town to take part in the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade. They will also be at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont for two shows on Dec. 30.