The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
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Willoughby United Methodist Church offers Christmas Day Dinner
For those needing a place to go for Christmas dinner or those looking to spend Christmas with friends, Willoughby United Methodist Church offered the solution.
For about the ninth year, the church at 15 Public Square in downtown Willoughby held an annual Christmas Day Dinner.
Doors opened at 11 a.m. on Dec. 25 and at 11:30 a.m. volunteers started to serve the free dinner..
The event was not for just church members but for the whole community.
Anyone who was in need of a Christmas dinner or just somewhere or someone to spend Christmas with was welcomed.
Those who attended the dinner were greeted at the door with a warm and welcoming Merry Christmas and then directed downstairs to the fellowship hall where dinner was served.
“We invite the community to come share a meal, share friendship and share the love of God,” said Marty Kreger, cocoordinator for the event. “We have had quite a bit of donations this year from community grocery stores such as Sheraton Furniture, Heinen’s, Giant Eagle, Honey Baked Ham and GFS.”
According to Kreger, it takes about 30 to 40 volunteers to make the dinner happen.
The volunteers are divided into groups for pre-cooking, cooking, serving and clean up.
Co-coordinator Kim Widdersheim organizes the
Christmas Day operations, Kreger said.
Kreger said the church expected to serve about 170 to 200 guests plus volunteers.
The menu included turkey, ham, green beans, corn, fruit salad, Jello salad with cranberries in it, mashed potatoes and gravy and a large selection of cookies.
“I think it’s a wonderful event. About nine years ago our pastor of the church at the time said we really need to do Christmas dinner. Nobody does a Christmas dinner,” Widdersheim said.
“A lot of people from our congregation and a lot of people from the community don”t have anywhere to go so this is a wonderful opportunity to be able to offer something like this.”
According to Widdersheim, the event is a neat thing where some of the groups that come in are friends who come in together and bring gifts to exchange with each other.
Diane Deubrea comes to the Christmas dinner for fellowship and to meet new people.
Deubrea fixed a Christmas Eve dinner, but comes to the church Christmas dinner to enjoy the holiday with her friends, she says.
Members of the church Jerry Baumgardner and his mother, Mary, agree the dinner is a great event.
For the Baumgardners, this is the only Christmas dinner they have.
Following the event Jerry plans to volunteer for clean-up.
“I think it’s great that the church here opens up a dinner for the community. It reaches a lot of people that may not have a place to go for Christmas,” Baumgardener said.
“It’s kind of like a ministry of the church. If anyone wants to come for the dinner its just nice that they have it.”