Christmas Day meal served to local residents
Over a dozen volunteers gathered on Christmas Day to prepare about 75 lunches for local residents, during the Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church’s 10th annual Christmas Feast.
Christmas meals were cooked, boxed, and delivered by church members to the people on the Vittles by Vehicle list, and take-out plates were provided for other members of the community who called in requests.
This year, first responders at the sheriff’s office and the EMS were also included, as well as employees at Allsup’s Convenience store – the only retail store open on Tuesday.
“We have come to realize that some people still have to work on Christmas Day, so we wanted to make sure they had a Christmas meal too,” organizer Tamara Trail said. “Serving our shut-ins and those whose caretakers may be off for the holiday is important, but we also wanted to make sure those people working to help protect us or provide services were remembered as well.”
The feast typically has included serving meals at the church, but the dine-in option wasn’t possible this year due to conflicts that a number of the regular volunteers had on Christmas Day this year.
“We had several key people out of town this year, so we didn’t have all the hands we would have needed to be able to serve at the church this time,” delivery coordinator James Breeden said. “I hope we are able to go back to eating at the church next year.”
Breeden said that the event was definitely a success despite the change in format.
“This project always fills my heart,” he said. “It just makes Christmas memorable for my family to be able to help with this. We still got to spend time visiting with the folks where we made deliveries, and for some of them, we were probably the only people they saw on Christmas Day.”
Breeden said that the team of volunteers continued to prepare to-go plates until all the food was gone.
“This was a perfect example of people joining together to help care for their neighbors,” Trail said. “It is such a special ministry that gives back more to the ones volunteering than the ones receiving.”
