Christmas is a time for service
When the Red Andrews Christmas Dinner begins at 8:30 Sunday morning in the Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, it’ll mark the 70th consecutive year for the holiday community feast.
None of the previous 69 events could’ve happened without substantial cooperation of volunteers, charitable champions and foodservice professionals.
This year the dynamic duo of local restaurant pros Sean and Cathy Cummings will coordinate the kitchen for the first time, following in a long, proud tradition.
“Well, I got a call two weeks ago from the folks at Red Andrews and they said, ‘Cathy, do you think you and Sean could handle doing the food for the Red Andrews?’” Cathy Cummings said. “I said, ‘Yes, by ourselves?’”
She laughed and said she told them to “count us in, but we’re going to need help.”
That won’t be a concern for the owner of Vito’s Italian Ristorante, who said she and her husband are humbled just to be asked to participate in the community dinner for any and all.
“What we’ve learned working it is there’s a ton of people who work it because their families moved away or want to come because their family has moved away,” Sean Cummings said. “And we’re OK with everybody. For whatever reason, come down and spend some time with our family serving other families or come eat with us.”
The Cummingses’ past experiences as volunteers at the event made the decision easy. They said volunteers out front simply go through the line and help people find a table, then Santa will appear and the coat room will open to those in need.
“Most of the volunteers bring their kids,” Cathy Cummings said. “What a great thing this is for them to experience.”
The dinner is free and open to the public. Christmas gifts for children are available and winter coats are offered to those who need them.
The annual community feast began here in 1946 — thanks to longtime state legislator Ernest “Red” Andrews. But the man who made his career first as a professional wrestling referee and promoter said in a 1966 interview he first served free holiday dinners to Tulsans in 1928 and continued the practice there until he moved to Oklahoma City in 1946.
Andrews, born in 1900 and died in 1977, was one of 11 children born to a carpenter and his wife in Houston. Andrews was 13 when his family moved to Oklahoma. Because the family was in dire financial straits, Red stayed behind and lived in a local home for newsboys. One Christmas at the home, a local industrialist personally delivered a feast on Christmas Day. Andrews claimed that occasion was the impetus for his charity dinner.
After his death, the dinner has carried on thanks to numerous volunteers, friends and family. The Red Andrews Dinner Foundation was formed in 2012 to ensure the dinner, which annually serves between 5,000 and 7,000 people, would carry on in perpetuity.
Sean Cummings said he and his wife are seeking 1,000 volunteers. He said people aren’t just needed at the beginning of the event but the morning before and throughout the afternoon on Christmas Day.
“We’ll be doing staging on Saturday morning,” Sean Cummings said. “We’ll work from 8 a.m. to about 2 in the afternoon.”
Cathy added volunteers are needed throughout the event, including after it’s over to help with cleanup.
Those interested in volunteering can help at 8 a.m. on Saturday when advance preparations are made. Volunteers will be needed throughout the morning on Christmas Day. The Cummingses recommend arriving about 7 a.m. Help will be needed in the kitchen and dining room.
“We will literally feed your soul if you come help us for the day,” Sean Cummings said.
Parking is typically easy to find on Christmas morning, but a 1:30 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game might complicate that a little.
Volunteers won’t have access to parking in the Cox Convention Center, Santa Fe or Century Center Parking Garages, but the city has provided an alternative at Arts District Parking Garage, 431 W Main St., between Walker and Hudson avenues. It opens at 6:30 a.m. on Christmas Day. Parking also will be available in any surface lots along SW 3.
Those interested in donating can deliver unwrapped toys and new or gently used coats to Cort Furniture, 4300 NW 39; Jackie Cooper BMW, 14145 N Broadway Extension in Edmond; Goldman Law Firm, 222 NW 13; and all Republic Bank & Trust locations.
For more information, go online to redandrews dinner.org, or call or email Mary Blankenship Pointer, 253-8641 or mpointer@rbt.com.