The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Community breaking bread
For nearly 20 years, city woman has directed league of volunteers with humble purpose
MIDDLETOWN — Ask Julie Hurlburt, organizer extraordinaire of the city’s annual Christmas dinner, how many people help make the holiday meal she pulls together with aplomb a success, and she’ll give you a nice round number: “my many, many, many, many, many, many, many volunteers.”
“For me, it is the thing I look forward to the most for the entire Christmas season, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said volunteer Jennifer Sequenzia, of Middletown, who first happened upon the celebration about 15 years ago. Close to 20 years ago, there used to be two holiday meals in Middletown: one at the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen on Main Street, and another at First Church on Court Street for folks who would otherwise spend Christmas Day alone.
When Hurlburt and her now late husband took over organizing and preparing the dinner, they decided to combine the two. This year’s event will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 25.
“When I walked in, I was greeted by happy volunteers. The church hall smelled amazing,” Sequenzia said of her first exposure to the gathering.
“Everyone was smiling. It was Christmas — but not the commercialized Christmas in the sense of everyone overspending and being frustrated. This is true Christmas: everyone coming together and sharing a meal — people from all walks of life,” said Sequenzia, who runs All-American Productions in Middletown.
It’s a true community effort, said Hurlburt, a preschool teacher by day. St. Vincent staff roasted the hams and provided a couple hundred pounds of mashed potatoes, among other food.
As many as 450 have enjoyed these sit-down dinners, with real linen, china and place settings, over the years.
Last year, Hurlburt tried her best to keep a count of volunteers, but it wasn’t easy. That’s because people will serve, then sit and eat or socialize, and then get back up and help again, Hurlburt said.
She estimates she has between 80 and 90 people assisting her on Christmas Day alone.
Food is served family-style and although it’s a holiday, things move along swiftly and in a well-organized manner, so the maximum number of diners can enjoy themselves, Hurlburt said.
The crew starts early in the morning, delivering 60 meals to people at the Eddy Shelter and 90 to the elderly and homebound. Throughout the course of the two-hour event, 175 people will enjoy a sit-down Christmas meal of ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, cranberry sauce and homemade desserts. Half of those will pack an extra meal to take home, Hurlburt said.
Dan Winkler, a Navy veteran, who played Santa Claus for the military for 50 years, said he likes “to see people survive and do well.”
“I think that is what drives me back to this, even though my health is causing me to slow down a lot now,” he said.
He’s been participating in the meal for 18 years. Before that, he was involved in the local Masonic charitable event.
Winkler told a story about a homeless military vet he met years ago at St. Vincent de Paul; he was among several in the community who worked to help the man find a shelter, and eventually housing, that would accept him and his companion dog.
“In the Navy, it’s a different camaraderie than here,” Dan Winkler said.
“Military people, you can be away from each other for 25 years and still walk up, drop a $100 bill and not care whether it comes back — because you know it’s coming back,” he said.
Every three months, he said, he and his U.S.S. Fulton crew buddies get together at Mohegan Sun, along with their wives, to chat. “There’s nothing that we wouldn’t stop to do if somebody needed a helping hand,” he said.
It’s also the philosophy of the community dinner.
“The first year I didn’t know what to expect,” said Dan Winkler’s son Larry, who started out washing dishes.
“I was just coming to help,” he said, as his mother Sandy laughed wholeheartedly recalling the time five years ago.
His job was an essential cog in the wheel, his father said.
“It has to be done expeditiously in order to reseat the people outside and get them back on the table, because it turns over faster than a normal restaurant would,” Dan Winkler said. “Once the tables are full, there are people waiting to come in outside and in the hall.”
Larry Winkler then graduated to his current post as chef.
“The kitchen is a well-oiled machine,” Sequenzia said. “Everyone is bustling around back there to make sure that the food is cooked perfectly and served promptly. They work so hard in that kitchen! It’s hot and it’s sweaty and it’s a thankless work, for the most part, but there would be no dinner without them.
“Then you have the servers literally running to grab a bowl of mashed potatoes or another pot of coffee. As a volunteer, it’s two hours of hit-the-floor-running,” Sequenzia said.
“It’s a wonderful experience. People who come, come back if not every year, every other year,” said Hurlburt, who related a story of some young volunteers.
“Last year, this woman showed up, she’s holding a toddler. I said, ‘Oh, are you here for dinner?’
“She said, ‘No. But they need to volunteer,’” motioning toward her children, he said.
Hurlburt guessed someone had been less than good that year.
“I grabbed a basket of something and said, ‘Here. You guys can pass this around. Please remember to say Merry Christmas, because some people, this is what their Christmas present is,’ ” Hurlburt recalled.
“Over the next few years, I realized that it was less important to run around to the tables with food, and more important to make connections with people who otherwise may not have someone talking to them,” Sequenzia said. “So I sat down and started having conversations with people. I learned a lot about what led them to be there on that day.”
For the event, local musicians come together and play Christmas songs, featuring all different types of instruments, such as piano, woodwinds and violin, Sequenzia said. “And then you will see community members from all walks of life getting up and singing along.”
The dinner is held at First Church, 190 Court St. Donations of cooked turkeys, pies, cakes, dinner rolls and cold drinks are needed. “Ideally between 15 and 18 20-pound turkeys will probably give us enough,” Hurlburt said of poultry entree donations.
Volunteers of all ages are welcome. For a ride to the church, to arrange delivery of a meal for the housebound or to volunteer, call 860-346-6657, ext. 15, or email Jmhurlburt26@gmail.com.