BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Eudora community members will host the 10th annual Community Christmas meal at Eudora Baptist Church at noon on Christmas Day.
The meal is free to attend and open to anyone in the community needing somewhere to spend Christmas. The meal will include turkey, ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls and dessert, as well as iced tea and coffee.
“It just feels very isolating if you don’t have anything to do on Christmas because, you know, society shuts down on Christmas,” said Grant High, the founder of the meal. “So it’s just a really great opportunity for people, and it just brings so many different people together from our community.”
High started the Christmas meal 10 years ago due to a desire to give back to the community in some way during the holiday season. Since then, a small group of volunteers has helped grow the dinner from feeding around 30 attendees the first year to around 110 last year.
“One thing that we’ve always emphasized is this dinner is just for people who don’t have another place to be on Christmas Day,” High said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with income level. You know, we have people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all religions.”
High said he wanted the meal to be a place to build community for those who do not have families to spend Christmas with. Since the meal started, it has seen many regular attendees who have gotten to know each other throughout the years at the meal.
“There are so many people who aren’t as blessed as I with so many close family members in the area,” said Belinda Rehmer, a volunteer with the meal. “There are so many that really have nothing and no one to be with on Christmas Day, and so what do we need more than community during such a wonderful time of remembering Christ’s birth?”
High said he anticipates 120-130 attendees for the meal’s 10th anniversary, and Rehmer and other volunteers have worked to promote the meal at local businesses.
“More than likely, you’ll see somebody you know, but if you don’t see anybody you know, you’ll meet someone new,” High said. “Please come if you want to. Don’t have second thoughts about it.”
Reach Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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