Group organizes Christmas meal for the needy or lonely

Its not too early to start thinking about Christmas.

Thats what a group of people calling themselves the Christmas Friendship Dinner Committee say. Their message is simple; if you give just a little, you can receive a lot.

We all get back what we give out, committee member Judy Bowers said.

Bowers and others are organizing a free Christmas Day dinner for anyone who is alone and would like to eat a friendly dinner with others on Christmas Day.

And for people who are willing to give a little, there is plenty to do.

We need gift wrap, said Elsie OBryan, the woman who saved the Christmas dinner from being canceled this year. I know I have wrapping paper thats been around for 97 years.

She admitted that maybe she was exaggerating a little, but the point was to encourage people to donate their old gift wrap. Even their little pieces, odds and ends. she said.

The committee needs lots of other things too, like bows and ribbon, $5-$10 gifts for babies to teens (if already wrapped, the gifts should be marked for age and sex), turkeys, pies and other food, people to serve and bus tables, volunteers for entertainment, and anything else to make the day special.

One woman approached OBryan at church one day and asked, Do you have centerpieces? When OBryan told her they hadnt even thought of centerpieces, the woman made some.

The Christmas Day Friendship Committee meets every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Country Kitchen in Wasilla and it invites anyone who wants to help to drop by. Bob Bowers, owner of the Country Kitchen, has been involved with the dinner for five years.

He said the Wasilla Lions started the dinner eight years ago. Bowers got involved when the Lions approached him to cook.

After the Lions dropped it, Bowers took the dinner over with a friend. Then the friend quit and Bowers found another friend, who this year had to give it up, too. That was the end, he thought.

I couldnt do it all by myself, Bowers said. It was going to die. If not for Elsie (OBryan) this wouldnt be happening.

When Bowers told OBryan the dinner was going to be canceled, she agreed to help.

Now they have eight members working on the committee, and a few businesses as well as individuals who are donating money, supplies or time.

But the dinner wouldnt be happening without Mini Fishers help too. Fisher, an elderly woman who died last spring, had talked the Wasilla City Council into donating $500 earlier this year. Right before she died she called and reminded Mayor Sarah Palin about the promise.

She was in the hospital when she called, Palin said. She said, I dont want to hear that the checks in the mail. Palin made sure the check was cut shortly afterward and, Palin said, The next thing we knew, she died.

Bob Bowers said Fisher was always thinking about how she could help others, and that is what the Christmas Friendship Dinner is all about.

He said every year a group of customers show up at his resturant the day before Christmas and spend the entire day around a huge table peeling hundreds of potatoes and readying other things.

They stay till 8 or 9 at night, he said. Then these guys come the next day and wash dishes.

Other people who have already said they would help include: Leroy Hawn, who will be Santa Claus; Earl Lackey, the president of Alaska Raceway Park, who will be the master of ceremonies, and Charlie Holmes, who will play guitar.

Were working on a getting a puppet show, too, OBryan said.

The Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, L&B Color Printing, Wasilla Refuse, Valley Hospital, Mat Valley Federal Credit Union, and MTA have all said they would help in various ways, even if it means just passing the word to their employees or getting the message out among the community.

The Big Lake Baptist Church Youth Group said it would wrap presents and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Wasilla is asking local farmers to give produce. However, the committee still needs donations of all kinds.

Were going to need solicitors to hit the businesses, said committee member Walt Holmes. And it would be real neat if some of the taxi companies would volunteer their services.

Bowers said one of the best things about the dinner is the feeling he gets after helping.

I remember this old lady came through the line, her clothes torn, dirty. You could tell she had nothing, he said.

But when her served her, she looked at him and her toothless smile stretched from ear to ear.

She was the richest lady in town that day, he said.

But the dinner isnt just for those who have nothing, Bowers said. Its for everyone who is lonely, everyone who needs a place to go. And there will be door prizes as well.

Everybody that walks through the door will end up with something, some kind of gift, Bowers said.

He expects about 500 people. The dinner will be held at the Wasilla Senior Center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Christmas Day. Donations are tax-deductible. No donations will be accepted at the door, but they can be dropped off ahead of time at the Country Kitchen restaurant in the Frontier Mall.

Just tell whoever is there that theyre for the Christmas dinner, said Bowers wife, Judy, So Bob wont think the gifts are for him.