A local tradition for the past 20 years, the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau’s community Christmas dinner is a time when many area residents, along with their families and friends, come together to celebrate each Dec. 25.
The dinner, which always has taken place at Knox United Church except for last year, has proven to be perennially popular—sometimes draws upwards of 200 people.
But the community event certainly couldn’t happen without the generous donations of food and money from district individuals, businesses, and organizations, as well as the hard work of 60-70 volunteers, many of whom get involved—and stay involved—year after year.
Diane Maxey, who sits on the community Christmas dinner organizing committee, has been helping with the dinner for at least 10 years. She said Christmas wouldn’t be the same for her without it.
“I really, truly think it’s one of the greatest things that can happen in a community,” she enthused. “It’s for everyone, and people go there and they talk and they laugh and they visit.
“It’s a real communal event, and I just love it,” Maxey added. “It doesn’t matter what capacity I help in. Most years I’m involved with the music, but this year I’m not.
“It’s a gathering of people who, for one reason or another, want to be together, want to find a place where they can find other people to talk with and enjoy, and be with for a couple of hours.
“There’s so much joy there, and laughter, and it’s pretty.”
Maxey said the dinner continues to draw many of the same volunteers year after year because “it makes their Christmas Day.”
“I know it makes my Christmas Day,” she remarked. “It gives you a warm wonderful feeling to know that you’ve contributed and help put on this event.
“I hope it never stops.”
“Meals on Wheels” co-ordinator Gaby Hanzuk, who also has been on the Christmas dinner committee for the past 10 years, again made sure 15 drivers deliver dinners to those who can’t make it to the church.
“What happens with ‘Meals on Wheels’ in the Christmas season is a lot of the time our regular clients end up going home to their families, so you end up with people who don’t have anybody and are a little ‘gun shy’ to come out by themselves,” Hanzuk explained.
“We used to deliver turkeys right out of the back seat of our car to people that can’t get out,” recalled Allene Perusse, who also has helped deliver “Meals on Wheels.”
Hanzuk said she keeps coming back year after year because of the “community” element in the Christmas dinner.
“I would say it’s a real eye-opener. It’s a great opportunity to have people see what the community is all about,” she remarked. “It’s one of the nicest community events.
“It’s not a fundraiser—you’re not asking for anything, you’re just giving,” she stressed. “And that’s what the Christmas spirit is all about.
“When people come here, it’s about friendship, and you often see people you haven’t seen in a long, long time,” Hanzuk continued. “It is a big community event.
“I think people have the misconception this community supper is for people who can’t afford it. Maybe that was part of the original thought, but everybody, and I mean everybody, is invited.”
Perusse also has been volunteering her time for the last several years to help with the community Christmas dinner. Working at Fort Frances Community Living, she got some of the youth there involved by preparing candy bags, which go out with the “Meals on Wheels” dinner trays to shut-ins.
The remaining bags are given out during the dinner.
And she volunteers on her own, as well, attending the committee meetings and helping to co-ordinate all the other volunteers involved.
“The community is really involved,” she noted. “There are a lot of people who do a lot of different things to bring the dinner together.”
Perusse, a member of the Fort Frances Choraliers, has contributed her vocal talents, as well, by performing selections of their annual Christmas cantata with the group during the dinner.
She said she enjoys helping out others, especially at this time of the year.
“I think it’s just in the spirit of giving,” she explained. “Lots of people have less or not as much and I think it’s a very kind thing to do for other people.
“You’re just giving back, and that’s what volunteering is all about is giving back to the community and to others who really need assistance.”
She noted her youth volunteers at Fort Frances Community Living are happy to lend a hand, too.
“They realize who they’re doing it for and why they’re doing it,” she remarked. “They understand where their gift is going to . . . and it makes you feel good.”
And a Christmas dinner wouldn’t be complete without volunteers to do the cooking. Evelyn Goldamer has been offering up her cooking skills for the last 10 years.
She admitted it’s a busy job that has to be started days before the event to ensure all the fixings for the feast—turkey, potatoes, gravy, turnips, dressing, etc.—are prepared in time for Christmas Day.
“People are very nice and compliment us on the food. I know it’s appreciated,” Goldamer said, adding she’s happy that people come and enjoy it.
And as someone who no longer has family living at home, she understands how important it is for people to have a place to go and celebrate on Christmas.
Josie Patrick, this year’s Christmas dinner committee co-ordinator, offered a slightly different point-of-view since it is her first year volunteering with the popular event.
“I’m a babe in the woods. I’m ankle deep right now and it’s wonderful,” she admitted, adding her job is made easier with the help of assistant Debbie Bazylewski and the team of the volunteers she surrounded by.
“It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.”
Patrick has been bowled over by how much the dinner shaped up to be a real “community” event.
“We have just an incredible community out there. These people—and I’m talking from all walks of life—they are there for everyone,” she stressed. “You don’t really realize it, you take it for granted until you get involved.
“When you’re involved, you see how wonderful people here in Fort Frances and the Rainy River District are,” she noted. “I have people from Stratton and the outlying areas that are contributing time and food, and that’s so wonderful.
“I can’t say enough for our community.”
Planning for the event actually starts in October, after which time the committee holds follow-up meetings where the many jobs associated with the dinner are delegated.
Many volunteers end up doing more than one task, depending on the situation. These range from cooking food to decorating the church hall to delivering “Meals on Wheels.”
The community Christmas dinner is made possible through donations of cash and food from individuals, businesses, and groups across the district, which come in during the weeks prior to the dinner.
This past Sunday (Dec. 23), volunteers decorated the hall at Knox United while some food preparation got underway on Christmas Eve.
This continued through the next morning, with volunteer drivers delivering “Meals on Wheels” prior to noon.
The dinner itself ran between noon and 2 p.m., with yet more volunteers helping serve up food to patrons.
For those who wanted to make it to the dinner but didn’t have a ride, Ray Dolph (who along with wife, Shirley, and son, Lyle, is another Christmas dinner volunteer mainstay) shuttled them to and fro.
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