Three groups have taken up the torch from Henry Sonnenberg to provide a free Christmas dinner for anyone who wants to partake on Christmas Day.
This year, instead of being held at the Evergreen Centre as it has for years, the dinner will take place at the Olds Royal Canadian Legion, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
About 250 people are expected to attend the dinner, up from about 200 last year. Organizers say that increase is due to the downturn in the economy.
ìWe are anticipating 250 because the way people are talking this year. (Usage of) the food bank's way up,î says Sheila Peters, chair of the Legion's special events and banquet kitchen committee.
Sonnenberg organized the event and cooked much ñ if not all ñ of the supper for about 28 years.
He started offering the Christmas dinner when he operated Olds Bakery and Catering out of what is now the Different Strokes building.
However, he vowed to step aside this year. So now, the dinner is being staged by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 105, the Olds Lions Club and various volunteers.
Olds and area residents are welcome to attend the event. If they need a ride or would prefer to have the meal delivered to them, that can be done too. Call Alan Prevost of the Olds Lions Club at 403-507-5204 on Christmas Day.
Members of the Olds Legion special events and banquet committee will be cooking the supper. Seven to 10 members of the Olds Lions Club, with help from volunteers will set up and clean up the place and clean vegetables, etc. They'll also greet people, drive people to and from the event and take meals to shut-ins.
Prevost, vice-president of the Olds Lions Club, is organizing the Lions' part of the event.
He says sacrificing some time on Christmas Day to help stage a meal for those who need it is well worth it.
ìIt's probably the toughest day for a volunteer to give up but the need is so great on that day,î he says.
ìFor many people, Christmas is not a wonderful event. It's depressing if they don't live up to the ideal. A lot of people don't have close family nearby.
ìIt's just a wonderful thing for somebody who may not have much going over the holidays,î Prevost adds.
ìThere is such a thing as a disease called loneliness as well, right? And loneliness for most of the year is tough but over the holidays when it's pushed at you so hard that your role in Christmas should be this way and you know, between you and I there are a lot of families that are suffering this year.î
Peters says cooking the meal is going to be a challenge because no one is quite sure what all is involved.
ìWe're going to have to feel it out this year because we really don't know what all we're up against,î Peters says. ìBut it'll go fine. I've got stuff on the back burner if we don't get a certain item.î
Besides, she says, they often serve banquets for 250 people.
Peters agrees it's a bit of a sacrifice to work at Christmas time, but well worth it.
In previous years, she has gone to visit their children at Christmas but this year, it's different.
ìOur daughter's family is going to the other side this year and we're going down to our son's and his family on Christmas Eve,î she says.
ìThey thought it was great. I've always talked about doing this. I always said if I lived in the city, on New Year's Eve I'd be working at a soup kitchen. That's what happens when you retire,î she adds with a laugh.
