Christmas Friendship Dinner seeks volunteers

MAT-SU — With Thanksgiving over, ‘tis the season when the Valley’s various charities shift their Christmas preparations into high gear.

“We’re just actually beginning the full-fledged volunteer drive,” said Cheryl Estes, Volunteer Coordinator for the Christmas Friendship Dinner. “We usually wait until after Thanksgiving, and then the volunteers start calling.”

She said volunteers are needed from well before the actual Christmas day dinner until a few days after the event to help with cleanup.

“There’s lots of prep time for decorating and kitchen work and unloading,” Estes said. “We have to take it all down again and clean all that stuff up so they can use the soccer fields again.”

Last year, Estes said, the dinner served 4,000 people and delivered 300 meals to people who couldn’t make it.

The dinner has partnered with another Valley Christmastime charity, Santa Cop and Heroes. Santa Cop brings presents and visitors to senior citizens who otherwise would be alone for the holidays. They used to bring meals as well, until the partnership with the friendship dinner came along.

“It has and it’s gone a little bit smoother and we’re not missing people,” Estes said of the team-up. “We can concentrate on one area and they can concentrate on one area.”

Estes said she thinks the number of people served will likely increase this year.

“We hope it continues to grow because there’s such a need,” Estes said.

The dinner has been part of the community for 22 years. Estes has been a part of it for just the last four. But, she said, in that time she’s met a lot of great people.

“It becomes family to you,” she said. “It’s just really wonderful that people would like to help and they get such a joy in helping.”

People who need help getting to the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla can request transportation. Applications can be picked up at area senior centers. The centers will also have applications for Santa Cop and for meal deliveries.

Santa Cop in particular requests that applications be returned by Dec. 6. The dinner asks that the meal and transportation forms be returned by Dec. 17. Anyone who wants to volunteer can call Estes at 354-6115.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.