“Dinner At Our House” has come a long way since its beginning eight years ago. Shelle Tesmer cannot even remember the name of the church where the first dinner was held in 1990 — but she distinctly remembers the 285 people who attended. Today that number seems small, compared this year’s attendance of 1,211.
“The dinner is undoubtedly the largest community service during the holidays,” said First Sgt. Jurczak of the JROTC program.
The program gives low-income families and people without families the opportunity to enjoy a free Christmas dinner.
“Originally, the dinner was organized for the needy,” said First Sergeant Mike Jurczak. “Now, anybody and everybody comes.”
Thanks to the National Guard Armory, people from the community are still able to enjoy the dinner.
“The dinner was moved to the armory in ’92 when the original organizers needed more space,” said Sgt. First Class Lionello from the National Guard Armory. “Then we (the National Guard) took the dinner over.”
More and more people appeared not only to enjoy the food, but also to lend a helping hand. About three years ago, the JROTC program got involved in helping out at the dinner.
“When you’re able to do something for the community, and not expect anything in return except a smile, it feels kind of good inside,” said sophomore Master Sgt. Jason Williams who assisted the dinner last Saturday.
On Dec. 19th, an army of volunteers was assembled from people around the valley to try to make everyone in Kalispell feel needed, at the National Guard Armory. JROTC cadets and others made a day of serving the community from eleven in the morning to five in the evening.
“Helping out those who normally wouldn’t get a decent meal makes it all worthwhile,” said junior Tammi Postlethwaite, who has been involved for two years now through JROTC.
Though many of the cadets needed only five hours of community service a quarter, students’ dedication to their task lasted much longer.
“We had students who would show up planning to work only two hour shifts, but they decided to stay and help out because they were having so much fun helping out,” said Jurczak.
Thanks to the local support from students and JROTC cadets, it has become the largest in the Flathead Valley near Christmas. According to Jurczak, there isn’t any better Christmas present than helping out those who need it.
“I can’t think of a better way to help out the community by serving less fortunate people who need a little Christmas cheer,” said Jurczak. |
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