The Earl Naswell Community Christmas Dinner is now less than four weeks away, and committee members are hard at work reaching out to potential sponsors and collecting donations.
The dinner, which will be celebrating its 41st anniversary in 2023, offers a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings to anyone who wants one, particularly those who may not otherwise have a warm meal on Christmas Day.
More than 100 volunteers will take time out of their own Christmas festivities to prepare, cook, package and deliver 800 meals throughout the Comox Valley on Christmas Day.
Traditionally, the Earl Naswell Community Christmas Dinner has been an in-person, sit-down meal at the Florence Filberg Centre, but COVID changed all that. In 2020, as restrictions prohibited mass gatherings, the dinner was transformed into a delivery service.
The new format proved so popular, organizers have stuck with it.
Whereas the in-person meal would generally attract between 200 and 250 people, the delivery requests exploded to nearly 700 in 2020, and the numbers have increased every year since.
Who can register?
As the name implies, this is a community dinner; anyone who is in need of a Christmas dinner is welcome to call the Salvation Army Cornerstone Community and Family Services, at 250-338-5133, and register - no questions asked.
鈥淪ome community members have been asking what the vetting process is - how do we ensure the meals are all going to those in need?鈥� said Earl Naswell Community Christmas Society (ENCCS) president, Justin White. 鈥淏ut there are no real restrictions - it is a community dinner. It鈥檚 an honour system, but we believe in our hearts that very few people would ask for the service if they didn鈥檛 need it. It鈥檚 not up to us to judge whether people are in need or not.鈥�
Sponsors and donations needed
While the volunteer list is pretty much full, the ENCCS in need of sponsorships, either in kind, or through cash donations.
This year will be the most expensive year in the event鈥檚 41-year history, as the target number of recipients is higher than ever before, and food costs have increased dramatically in the past 12 months.
鈥淲e are still needing additional sponsors to help us gather all the required supplies for the dinner,鈥� said ENCCS treasurer, Rob James. 鈥淎ny business or individual looking to help out this year鈥檚 event may contact us via email.
鈥淲e can accept e-transfer donations directly through our email; please remember to include your name and contact details if you wish for us to reply.鈥�
To send an e-transfer, please use the EarlNaswellChristmas@shaw.ca email address.
Contact names should accompany any cash donations provided. Anonymous donations are gladly accepted, although the society would appreciate the opportunity to thank the anonymous donors privately.
For anyone without access to e-transfers who would like to donate, please call 250-702-3896 and leave a message.
Alternatively, the ENCCS is also accepting donations of frozen turkeys.
鈥淲e will now be accepting donations of frozen turkeys if anyone would like to help us reach our goals,鈥� said James. 鈥淎pproximately 50-60 turkeys are needed to put together the 800 dinners this year.鈥�
