Ron Booth
Preparations for the Stephens County Community Christmas Dinner are underway.
The board members, Sonny Webb, president, Daisy Lawler, secretary, Clinton Murphree, Jessie Murphree, Larry Lawler, Bill Bunn, Bill Ford, Julia Allen, Gary Douglas, Al Hinshaw, Bruce Akins and Melvin Jones all have their jobs to do. The dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stephens County Fair and Expo Center.
Most of those jobs revolve around getting community members to help out with the Christmas dinners in one way or another.
Akins job at the last meeting was to get Stephens County Commissioner Dee Bowen to say the prayer and to see if Santa Claus would be able to make an appearance after such a busy night.
Everybody else had the job of gathering donations or asking others to volunteer their time to help out those less fortunate.
Last year, the group served and delivered more than 2,400 meals around Stephens County.
Work will begin much earlier the day of the dinner. Some will arrive at the fairgrounds from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. to start preparations. The last person will leave around 8 p.m., Hinshaw said.
Although the economy is in a twist, Hinshaw said that he received more in donations from the Duncan Fraternal Order of Police and the Fire Department Union than he did last year.
The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office has agreed to supervise inmates to lighten the load of the volunteers again this year.
As far as volunteers go, families from Bray to Corum have already volunteered to work at the dinner.
“Last year we had 40 organizations donate,” Daisy Lawler said. “We had more than 200 people volunteer, but we still need more.”
The goal of the board is to provide a good meal to those who would spend the holiday alone or could not otherwise prepare a meal on their own.
In 1989, there were 440 meals served. Last year there were 1,625 meals carried out, and another 1,125 served at the fairgrounds.
This year, Clinton Murphree expects that there will be 3,000 or more meals served.
To accommodate the growth of the dinner and other events held at the fairgrounds, the Stephens County Commissioners approved the purchase of another freezer.
Another goal is to keep the dinner sponsored by churches, civic clubs and individuals in the area. Contributions vary from food to money to time.
Those that want to donate time, money or food can call Webb at 580-252-3949.
