Spirit of Christmas Shines at Plaster Rock Community Dinner!

Posted On December 19, 2012

A small army of volunteers rolled up their sleeves on December 9 and served an amazing crowd of over 1,200 diners a glorious Christmas Dinner at the Plaster Rock Lions Club!
 
Prep cooks peeled, chopped and diced all day Saturday before the event, and then the cooks really went to town on Sunday.
 
Some 800 pounds of turkey were roasted, and 800 pounds of potatoes peeled to feed the crowd.
 
This meal was hosted by Events Plaster Rock and Area and was served completely free to any and all who came to partake of this glorious Christmas Feast!
 
Members of the Plaster Rock Family Worship Center baked and then donated a spectacular array of 1,500 desserts for this event.
 
Twenty members of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets served in the dining room to facilitate service. They bussed the tables, served tea and coffee refilled water and did a fantastic job of ensuring that all the diners were taken care of. They were superbly efficient and courteous. Their attention to the details and needs of the dining room was outstanding.
 
The dining room seats 300 people at a time, so as folks dined and left the Air Cadets immediately cleared and reset the places for the next diners to arrive.
 

Folks began arriving shortly after 3 PM as the team of cooks, overseen by head Boss Lady Cook Pauline Porter, took their battle stations at the serving table in the kitchen.
 
As the diners filed through for the next 3 hours they were served turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed turnips and vegetables all topped off with gravy, of course.
 
Cranberry sauce, stewed beets and condiments were on the tables to round out the meal.
 
Several teams of volunteers delivered 200 meals to go to people around and about the village who were not able to come to the Lions Club. No one was forgotten.
 
Volunteer drivers also provided rides for those folks who needed transportation to get to the party.

Many people donated food and contributed their time and energy to make this enormous feast such a rousing success.
 
Volunteers peeled and prepped all day Saturday, and on Sunday Pauline Porter directed a team that included Heather Duffy, Sharon Hebert, Doug Clark, Tina Clark, Robert Stevenson, Linda Goodine, Viola Hebert, Kay Briggs, Patty Corey,Tina Clark, Gary Broad, Joanne Broad, Roy Stacey, Muriel Esliger, Barb Inman, Suzanne Thibodeau and Gred Thibodeau.
 

I even got to chop some potatoes as I ran around with my camera!
 
As one pot of mashed potatoes or vegetables was served, more were boiling for the next round. Both commercial range tops were completely covered with simmering pots at all times for hours.
 
This special dinner was overflowing with the spirit of Christmas!
 
A good time was had by all and this meal certainly was a shining example of the True Spirit of Christmas!
In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, God Bless us every one!

Stephanie Kelley