Dinners go down ‘without a hitch’
While attendees were down slightly at South Canterbury community Christmas dinners, more than enough people rolled up their sleeves to help run the events.
Timaru Community Christmas Dinner co-ordinator Melissa Brennan said there were about 60 volunteers at yesterday’s lunch at the Caroline Bay Hall, the most interest in helping out at the event she has run for the past eight years.
She wasn’t sure if increased community awareness in the wake of Covid-19 had played a part in that.
‘‘[There are] definitely a lot of new volunteers this year. I ended up having to turn some people away because I didn’t have enough jobs.’’
Brennan said 250 people had booked a place for the annual lunch, but there were a few empty tables.
Speaking during the dinner, she anticipated some of those people could still turn up.
She said she got ‘‘personal satisfaction’’ from organising the dinner, which is put on ‘‘so that nobody has to at home alone on Christmas Day’’.
On top of providing a full Christmas spread of ‘‘hot ham, cold ham, rolled pork, shoulder pork, lamb, chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, couscous, and every dessert possible’’, dinner organisers also buy Christmas presents for children who attend.
First-time volunteer David said he wanted to be a part of the dinner to give back to the community.
‘‘Everyone puts a little bit into your life as time goes on, so why not give back. It’s perfect. People are happy, people are getting fed, people have made it out,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Waimate Christmas Dinner organiser Anglican minister Rev Indrea Alexander said the dinner went ‘‘very well’’ with a ‘‘lovely atmosphere’’.
About 60 people attended the dinner, down from previous years when up to 90 people had taken part.
She was unsure why numbers were lower.
‘‘One of the things we did for the first time this year is invite people to book, and we’ve never done that before and whether that was a deterrent because in the past we’ve just had people roll up on the day.’’
In Fairlie, Theo Bennison, a herd manager from Britain, who couldn’t get back to see his family this year because of Covid-19, organised a community lunch for other people spending Christmas alone in Fairlie.
Bennison said the Fairlie event was attended by 43 people, with nine volunteers and ‘‘went without a hitch’’.