What started out as an Eagle Scout Project is now almost 16 years old.
On Christmas Day, the 16th Community Christmas Dinner will be served at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Murphysboro.
It all began with James Chambers, who started the dinner as an Eagle Scout Project, according to his mother, Maryann Chambers-Hinchcliff..
"There was a Thanksgiving Dinner, and we discussed about how it would be nice to have a Christmas Dinner, too,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "He had talked about it before, and when it came time for his Eagle Scout project he decided to do the Christmas Dinner."
The rest, as they say, is history.
Members of the United Methodist Church got involved in the Christmas Dinner, and some are still volunteering their services.
"I've been involved for 16 years,'' said Joyce Ellis, who is now the coordinator of the Dinner. "It's a lot of work, especially on Christmas day.
"We meet a couple of times during the year to fine tune things. But we've done it for so long that we pretty well have it down to an art now."
Ellis estimated that around 400 meals are served each year. So, that makes roughly 6,000 meals over the last 15 years.
On Christmas Day, volunteers begin delivering meals at 11 a.m. to shut-ins and others who call in. Then, from noon until 2 p.m., meals are served to those that make their way to the Dinner.
A traditional Christmas meal is served. That would include turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, jello salad, different desserts, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and lemonade.
Scott Browner is the person that coordinates cooking all of that food. He, like Ellis and Chambers-Hinchcliff, has been volunteering his services since the first Christmas Dinner.
"It's a lot of work,'' Browner said. "My commitment really a big one. I just say "have the food there on Christmas Eve and I promise you it will be ready to go on Christmas.'
"And, it's not just me. I just help coordinate things. It takes a lot of thought and methodology, I guess you'd say, to make everything."
Food preparation starts on Christmas Eve.
"We do everything that we can the day before,'' Browner said. "And the Health Department is right there with us. We know what we have to cook the temps up to, and what we then drop them down to. Then we know what we have to get to on Christmas day."
While Ellis, Chambers-Hinchcliff and Browner have volunteered from the get-go, this will be their last year doing so.
"This will be my last year, and Scott and a couple of other ones decided this will be it,'' Ellis said. "I notified my church because everything is kind of ran through it. They put it in their newsletter."
Ellis said that the main need for next year will be an experienced cook.
"We will definitely need an experienced cook,'' Ellis said. "And they need to know the safety rules for cooking food and things like that."
"We need somebody that would want to coordinate the meal,'' Browner added. "Every part of the meal is a different part. But you have to be able to coordinate.
"I'm not patting myself on the back, but that's my expertise. There are people out there that can do it. But it's hard to find the right person to do it."
And if there is no one to coordinate the cooking then the Christmas Dinner might be in jeopardy.
"If we don't do it, it may not happen next year,'' Browner said. "And I hate to say that.
"We're just begging for somebody to step up to the plate and say, 'we'll do it.'"
Ellis said that after a few years that she might return as a volunteer.
Chambers-Hinchcliff said that when her son started the Dinner she had hoped that it would "take off". And it did. However, for the most part a lot of the same people have put the dinner together since its inception.
"I was hoping that it would take off and someone would take it over,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "But we just kept kind of doing it each year. But after 16 years we're going to kind of shop around and see if another group is interested in taking over."
Chambers-Hinchcliff went on to say that preparation for the Dinner can be trying at times, and that once Christmas day is here that it can be more stressful. However, she added that it was worth it.
"As much work as it is, when you're there and those people come in it is such a good feeling,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "It makes it all okay. It makes you think, 'oh yeah, this is why we do it.'"
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What started out as an Eagle Scout Project is now almost 16 years old.
On Christmas Day, the 16th Community Christmas Dinner will be served at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Murphysboro.
It all began with James Chambers, who started the dinner as an Eagle Scout Project, according to his mother, Maryann Chambers-Hinchcliff..
"There was a Thanksgiving Dinner, and we discussed about how it would be nice to have a Christmas Dinner, too,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "He had talked about it before, and when it came time for his Eagle Scout project he decided to do the Christmas Dinner."
The rest, as they say, is history.
Members of the United Methodist Church got involved in the Christmas Dinner, and some are still volunteering their services.
"I've been involved for 16 years,'' said Joyce Ellis, who is now the coordinator of the Dinner. "It's a lot of work, especially on Christmas day.
"We meet a couple of times during the year to fine tune things. But we've done it for so long that we pretty well have it down to an art now."
Ellis estimated that around 400 meals are served each year. So, that makes roughly 6,000 meals over the last 15 years.
On Christmas Day, volunteers begin delivering meals at 11 a.m. to shut-ins and others who call in. Then, from noon until 2 p.m., meals are served to those that make their way to the Dinner.
A traditional Christmas meal is served. That would include turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, jello salad, different desserts, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and lemonade.
Scott Browner is the person that coordinates cooking all of that food. He, like Ellis and Chambers-Hinchcliff, has been volunteering his services since the first Christmas Dinner.
"It's a lot of work,'' Browner said. "My commitment really a big one. I just say "have the food there on Christmas Eve and I promise you it will be ready to go on Christmas.'
"And, it's not just me. I just help coordinate things. It takes a lot of thought and methodology, I guess you'd say, to make everything."
Food preparation starts on Christmas Eve.
"We do everything that we can the day before,'' Browner said. "And the Health Department is right there with us. We know what we have to cook the temps up to, and what we then drop them down to. Then we know what we have to get to on Christmas day."
While Ellis, Chambers-Hinchcliff and Browner have volunteered from the get-go, this will be their last year doing so.
"This will be my last year, and Scott and a couple of other ones decided this will be it,'' Ellis said. "I notified my church because everything is kind of ran through it. They put it in their newsletter."
Ellis said that the main need for next year will be an experienced cook.
"We will definitely need an experienced cook,'' Ellis said. "And they need to know the safety rules for cooking food and things like that."
"We need somebody that would want to coordinate the meal,'' Browner added. "Every part of the meal is a different part. But you have to be able to coordinate.
"I'm not patting myself on the back, but that's my expertise. There are people out there that can do it. But it's hard to find the right person to do it."
And if there is no one to coordinate the cooking then the Christmas Dinner might be in jeopardy.
"If we don't do it, it may not happen next year,'' Browner said. "And I hate to say that.
"We're just begging for somebody to step up to the plate and say, 'we'll do it.'"
Ellis said that after a few years that she might return as a volunteer.
Chambers-Hinchcliff said that when her son started the Dinner she had hoped that it would "take off". And it did. However, for the most part a lot of the same people have put the dinner together since its inception.
"I was hoping that it would take off and someone would take it over,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "But we just kept kind of doing it each year. But after 16 years we're going to kind of shop around and see if another group is interested in taking over."
Chambers-Hinchcliff went on to say that preparation for the Dinner can be trying at times, and that once Christmas day is here that it can be more stressful. However, she added that it was worth it.
"As much work as it is, when you're there and those people come in it is such a good feeling,'' Chambers-Hinchcliff said. "It makes it all okay. It makes you think, 'oh yeah, this is why we do it.'"
