Duane Hicks
No matter how much you plan, there are some things you can’t control.
Mother Nature is a big one.
While those who made it to the annual community Christmas dinner on Friday at Knox United Church enjoyed a hot meal and the company of others, organizers were wishing there could have been more of them.
Lead organizer Karen Mitchell said a total of 90 people attended the dinner, which took place between noon and 2 p.m., while 56 “Meals on Wheels” were delivered to those who had pre-ordered them.
“I was quite disappointed [with] the snow,” chuckled Mitchell, adding the white stuff prevented quite a few snowed-in people from making it to the dinner, which normally sees at least 200 people turn out.
“It was nice,” she added. “It turned out all right.
“I would have liked to have seen more people, more hustle and bustle,” she admitted. “But like everybody said, ‘You did a good job. It’s not your fault it snowed.’
“We had fun. Everybody had fun,” Mitchell enthused.
Those who did make it not only got to enjoy a buffet dinner with turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, peas and carrots, gravy, cranberries, and rolls, but also some live musical entertainment when Diane Maxey and the Fort Frances Choraliers sang a few festive songs.
“A lot of people stayed because of the weather, and they had seconds,” noted Mitchell. “We had that nice cake from Safeway and ice cream.
“Everybody visited, it was nice,” she added.
In an effort to ensure none of the food went to waste, Mitchell made sure attendees also went home with leftovers.
Given the weather, Mitchell was surprised to see some people come from all over the district (such as Devlin, Emo, Barwick, and Flanders).
Even a group of Seine River FN residents turned out.
“I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ They said, ‘We came for supper.’
“I said, ‘In this weather?’ And they said, ‘It wasn’t too bad for the first 10 miles.’”
Mitchell said volunteers made sure the group went home with an ample amount of leftovers.
She also recalled an elderly man who came into the church just before 3 p.m.—after the dinner was over and they were cleaning up—and they made him up three plates of food to take home.
“My husband [Phil] helped him out to the car with it,” Mitchell recalled. “He said, ‘I forgot what time it was. I woke up and it was 2:50.’
I said, ‘Don’t worry, there’s lots of food.’
“He thought that was nice and gave us a $20 donation to put away for next year.”
While the dinner was free, a silver collection raised a total of $262, which will be put into a fund for next year’s event.
Having headed up the dinner for her first time this year, Mitchell said she was very pleased with the local individuals and businesses who so generously donated food and money to the make it a reality, as well as the volunteers who donated their time prior to and on the day of the dinner.
“Even though the weather kind of messed it up, I am hoping that those who helped us this year do the same for us next year,” said Mitchell.
“The volunteers were great,” she stressed. “They kept everything running smoothly.”
Mitchell added while it was a lot of work to organize (she started working on it Oct. 10), she likely will head up the community Christmas dinner again next year.
