Willow Area Community Organization hosting holiday dinner

The Willow Area Community Organization (WACO) and Willow Community Center will be hosting a holiday dinner on Saturday December 6 at 6 p.m.

This potluck style dinner is open to all members of the Willow community and is designed to bring neighbors, friends and family together for the winter season. This is an annual event that many within the community look forward to attending every year.

“It’s a wonderful event, it’s good for the kids, it’s good for the parents, it’s good fellowship,” Kitchen Lead Jane Thistle said. “We live in Willow…. We have to stick together and help each other... And it’s just good for the soul.”

The potluck celebrates both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Turkeys and hams are donated in the weeks prior to be cooked and served the day of the event. The dinner is made possible by a group of volunteers that help organize, decorate and cook. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables and dinner rolls are supplied by WACO while sides and desserts are supplied by attendees.

For those interested in bringing dishes, last names starting with A-I are asked to bring hot side dishes, J-R are asked to bring desserts and S-Z are asked to bring salads. Donations of turkeys and hams for the event are still currently being accepted.

The Willow Lion’s Club will be assisting in the kitchen and filling goody bags for Santa to pass out to children at the end of the dinner. The Willow Elementary School fifth grade class will be working as servers and earning tips for their end of the year field trip. This is one of the largest community events of the year and a great precursor for the Willow Winter Carnival that takes place in January.

Thistle and others have taken over planning the event after the passing of former organizer Chris Stitt. Thistle explained that Stitt was persistent about restarting the dinner after COVID and bringing the community back together. She played an important role in “saving” the holiday dinner.

The holiday dinner is providing the residents of Willow with a chance to reconnect, share stories and laughs with one another, partake in good food and remind each other that they have a community of neighbors and friends around them.

“We are a community,” Thistle said. “That’s what you do.”