Operating Sharing Hosting Christmas Day Event

Tuesday, 17 December 2024 07:29

Operation Sharing will serve up a Christmas dinner at College Ave Church from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day.

WOODSTOCK - It's a holiday tradition in the Friendly City.

Operation Sharing will be hosting its Christmas Day event at College Ave Church this year. It will be serving a Christmas dinner from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and a bunch of other holiday favourites.

Marilyn Schmiedl is the Coordinator of the event and the Chair of the Operation Sharing Board. She says the event is for people who don't have anywhere to go for Christmas.

"Everyone is welcome to come for dinner. It's open from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and it's not just for the people that are homeless. It's also for the people that are lonely and don't have families."

Those who attend also get to go home with one of the leftover gifts from the Christmas Place program.

Executive Director Tim Dukes says The Christmas Place was a huge hit this year, and he's confident the Christmas Day event will be a success as well.

"The Christmas Place program was a great success! We helped many families and we're looking forward to another Christmas Day lunch that Marilyn always takes very pride in with her team in the kitchen with the Sharing Table and providing a beautiful meal with some leftover gifts for families in our community. It's a wonderful day and we're happy here at Operation Sharing to do whatever we can to make it a nice day for everyone in our community."

Schmiedl says this event has been going on for quite some time now, but it hit a bit of a snag in recent years.

"It started many years ago with mainly the board involved and volunteers. It got stopped when the pandemic hit, and last year was the first since COVID."

She says the event used to attract over 300 people before the pandemic when they were forced to switch to a takeout only format. They were able to make a return to the in-person format last year with about 100 people in attendance.