The Tri-Area Community Meals volunteers were all smiles and hustle on Christmas as they served dinner to scores of people in the spirit of giving they hope to carry into the new year.
Thick slabs of juicy ham, creamed scalloped potatoes, julienned carrots, Hawaiian bread rolls and fresh salad — and pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream — were all on the menu at the community center in Chimacum, and people were eating it up and going back for seconds.
Volunteers, most adorned in bright, whimsical holiday attire, served food, bused tables, refilled coffee and fetched dessert, while in the back of the house, others were cooking more food and washing and drying plates as fast as they could.
Many of the 40 volunteers there said they enjoyed being around smiling people and meeting new folks.
“Sometimes we get people who look like they just need a meal,” said Elena Lovato-Kraut, who was counting people coming in the door. “There are older people who don’t want to make a huge meal and people who don’t have family nearby. We see people from all walks of life.”
She and Rita Hubbard, Anita Schmucker and Beau Young rejuvenated the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals three years ago when it looked like the project, previously hosted by Olympic Community Action Programs, might fade into oblivion.
She was a relative newcomer to volunteering there, and she admits she wasn’t initially wasn’t sold on the idea.
“I’m going to give up my Christmas for this?” she recalled thinking. “And after my first meal, I thought this is the best way to spend Christmas.”
“I like everything about it,” Young said. “The community, the connections, the giving back. Finding ways to bring giving into the 21st century.”
John Carter saw that first-hand this year.
The self-proclaimed gravy-pouring expert got a phone call early Christmas morning: There was no whipped cream for the pumpkin pie.
He ran to Safeway to buy a case, just to find the only remaining cans of whipped cream on the shelves were chocolate- and candy-flavored.
An employee found a case in the cooler.
His story got better.
“The cans were $4.99 each,” Carter said. “And the guy behind me in line said, ‘Rum with that would make a pretty good dessert.’ I said, ‘No, no; this is for the community meal,’ and the guy reached out with his credit card and paid for all the whipped cream. That’s what Christmas is about: giving.”
Carter, who spends his winters in Port Townsend and summers in Minnesota, has been ladling up gravy for the past 25 Christmases, first at Fort Worden and now in Chimacum.
“I’d get invited to peoples’ houses and felt like a third wheel,” he said of the experience of being a “Christmas orphan” and deciding to turn the day into one of volunteering.
He likes to joke that he gets sent to Gravy Serving School in the summer, but frowned when he noted that he’d apparently been demoted to serving carrots this year.
“I panicked when they put me on carrots,” he joked. “I’ve never done it before.”
Bakers, stores, private individuals and many others throughout the area contributed food or money to make the event happen. A typical year can see 250 people walk through the door for dinner, Lovato-Kraut said. In addition to the sit-down meals, another 77 boxes went out the door to the shelter in Port Townsend, assisted living facilities and private homes.
Carter noted that one year he was taking meals to homebound folks and ultimately only delivered four, while other volunteers distributed between 40 and 50 apiece.
“Most of them didn’t even want the food,” he said of the people to whom he was supposed to deliver meals. “They just wanted someone to talk to.”
The holidays can be a lonely time, he noted, and providing that ear to listen — or spoonful of carrots — lifts his spirits.
“Our relatives aren’t here, and we didn’t have a place to go,” said Marian Meany, who was dining with her husband, Phil. “We want to be with people.”
Todd Shear of Port Townsend said he enjoyed the food and conversation on the holiday.
“I like seeing everyone’s smiles,” said Michael U’ren, tucking into a last bite of pumpkin pie. “It’s the gift of giving that keeps on giving.”
While Barb Dawson’s family was visiting from Kirkland, she said she ditched them so she could play holiday tunes on keyboard, accompanied by “Chicago” Bob Longmire, on guitar and viola.
“The volunteers are so happy,” she said. “They’re a fun, lively group.”
“It keeps us out of trouble,” Longmire said. “And it feels nice to do it.”
