Ham, mashed potatoes, salad and homemade pies are all on the menu for Christmas dinner at Grace United Methodist Church.
But the annual holiday feast will also feature companionship, compassion and the chance to celebrate as neighbors. Families and individuals who otherwise wouldn’t have had anything to eat that day, as well as people struggling with loneliness, can sit down to dine among hundreds of others.
“It isn’t just for those in the community who didn’t have anything to eat. It’s also for people who just needed someone to spend Christmas with,” said Shellee Pietras, a member of Grace United and one of the original organizers.
Grace United Methodist Church will again host its traditional Christmas dinner for the community. Anyone who wants to gather together around a plate of hot food is invited to share in the free meal.
The meal will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m., with a dinner that will include ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad, rolls and dessert. Delivery and carry-out are also available, Pastor Andy Kinsey said.
“It’s not only about feeding people, but providing a sense of community,” he said. “People want to come and get a hot meal for Christmas.”
Grace United Methodist Church has been hosting the dinner for the past nine years, starting the outreach effort in the wake of the recession in 2008.
The discussion started with wanting to offer a free meal, similar to the annual Johnson County Thanksgiving Banquet, which the entire community could enjoy.
“We were talking about how there were opportunities for meals at Thanksgiving, but nothing in Franklin for Christmas,” Pietras said. “One of us suggested to do it, and even though it was Thanksgiving, we decided to do it, even if it wasn’t big.”
When the first Christmas dinner was hosted in 2008, church volunteers served 60 people. This year, organizers are expecting to feed more than 800 people.
“We’ve learned that November and December, for this church, means interacting with the community,” Kinsey said. “We’re engaging in different levels, behind the scenes, being a faithful presence. I think the congregation responds very well to this.”
The dinner is funded by the church and donations from the community, including businesses such as Texas Roadhouse, which provides 900 rolls for the dinner. All of the work preparing, serving and cleaning up the dinner is done by volunteers, who have made the dinner as much a part of their Christmas as opening gifts.
Pietras and her family were involved from the start. She and her children, Morgan and Emma, worked the dining area. Her husband, Aaron, spearheaded the food preparation and kitchen effort.
With volunteers in short supply, she even called her brothers to drive up from Seymour to help.
Since that time, Pietras has watched as the event has become a tradition for the family. They wear funny hats with antlers on them, sing Christmas carols and spend nearly the entire day at the church.
“Every single Christmas, we get up, we barely have time to open our presents and we’re out the door to the church,” she said. “We’re there probably from 9 a.m. to 5 or 6 in the evening.”
Pietras has made it clear that if the family wants to scale back their involvement, that would be OK. But the biggest push to keep volunteering comes from Morgan, 16, and Emma, 13.
“They said, ‘That’s what we do.’ They get so excited. They feel like they’re actively doing something for someone else,” she said.
Many other families feel the same way. Excitement about the dinner has grown so much that Kinsey often has more volunteers than work to do.
“The first Sunday we put up a sheet to volunteer, it’s all filled up,” he said. “We always have a little joke about who’s going to get the prime spot on the food line, because families make this a part of their Christmas.”
Organizers no longer need any more volunteers, but are accepting donations of fresh pies and cookies to serve as dessert, Kinsey said. No frozen pies, though, he said.
Arrangements are being made for the delivery orders and the routes the drivers will take to drop that food off. Deliveries will be made between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday. Carryout meals will be available from 1:30 to 4 p.m., and then the main meal will be open to all that evening.
“People know they can always come for carry-out, they can always come in for the meal,” Kinsey said.
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Christmas Dinner
What: A free meal provided by Grace United Methodist Church, available to anyone in the community.
When: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday; carryout is available from 1:30 to 4 p.m., and deliveries will go out between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Where: 1300 E. Adams St., Franklin
Menu: Ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad, rolls and dessert.
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