A large number of people enjoyed dinner with all the trimmings Sunday at the 10th annual community Christmas dinner held in the Perry Elks meeting hall.
By noon the hall was filled with festive feasters sharing the holiday bounty, which included ham and turkey as the main entrees and real mashed potatoes. Christmas cheer was also served in great quantities.
The contributions of many volunteers and sponsors make the annual free meal possible, which this year fed about 320 people.
“We had very little food left,” said Deb Miller of Perry, one of about 50 volunteers who made the event a success. We fed the police, ambulance crew, Rowley and Lutheran home staffs and took deserts to Perry housing and some unused drinks to food pantry.”
Miller said attendance was “down a little from last year, but rain and the weekend all play a part.”
Larry Meacham of Perry, spokesperson for the Perry Community Christmas Dinner Committee, issued the following statement Monday morning:
“We are very grateful to the following people for their generous donations to the 10th Perry Community Christmas Dinner. Thanks to their kindness, we were able to provide Christmas dinner and fellowship to around 320 area residents. We were also able to make a cash and in-kind contribution of around $500 to the local Food Pantry.
“Donors were the Perry Rotary Club, Farm Credit Services, Fareway meat deptartment, Tyson Fresh Meats, Hy-Vee, Perry PACES Program, Perry Elks Lodge, Rowley Masonic Community, Shopko, Fareway grocery department, Crossroads Church, Dennis and Sandy Pennington, Gary and Janet Luett, Chief Printing, Bob and Maggie Gittins, First Christian Church, Heartland Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Perry Chamber of Commerce, KDLS Radio, Perry Young Professionals and ThePerryNews.com.
“We are also indebted to many individuals, too numerous to try to mention, who gave money, time, talents and food.”
It was ham, turkey and pork. I didn’t see any roast beef. My thanks to all who did such a terrific job with the meal, and a big thanks for REAL mashed potatoes.