No one should be alone or hungry at Christmas

Clayton Simon, 46, was happy, full and content after taking in the Community Christmas Dinner on Saturday.

‘No one should be alone or hungry at Christmas,’ that is the motto of the Community Christmas Dinner Committee and again this year they did their best to provide a warm social atmosphere with a traditional dinner.

The non-denominational committee's mission is to create a warm comfortable atmosphere for those who wish to share a Christmas meal. And with over 200 guests served at the Pro-Cathedral hall and about a hundred volunteers on hand to help out all would say it was a great success.

For Clayton Simon, 46, the dinner event offers a place for him to share some Christmas cheer versus being alone during the holiday.

“It’s a place to come first of all,” he explains.

“Because my family doesn’t live here in town all my family lives in Mattawa and has no way of getting together, so this along with the friends that I have that came it’s good for everybody I think.”

“It gives us all something to do number one and like you said with the fellowship and stuff … we’ve been coming here for the last … well we didn’t come last year because it was in to small of a place but we’ve been coming here for the last 5 years I guess -- give or take and probably be back next year.”

“I’ll be honest with you I’d rather do this the other way around, I’d rather be on the volunteer side of it … I really would ... I’d like to try it,” he adds.

For 10 year-old Madison Forward volunteering was great way to help with her Dad Mike.

“My dad found out about it and asked my sister and I if we wanted to volunteer and I said I did and she didn’t.

“Because I wanted to make someone happy … it feels special.”