Join in a Christmas feast today

John Walker
The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN December 25, 2008 06:47 am

— With 36 gallons of cranberry sauce, 96 gallons of green beans, 96 gallons of corn, 1,000 cookies, 17 cases of 12 dozen rolls and plenty of turkey, there might be enough food to feed all the people today at the Christmas dinner at the fairgrounds.
The dinner, which is in its 20th year, will bring more than 200 volunteers in to help serve, prepare and clean up after the dine-in and carry-out dinners are finished. Volunteers will take dinners to all the fire departments around Stephens County and even the jail for all the prisoners.
Last year, about 2,400 people were fed in approximately a five-hour period. Carry-out begins at 9 a.m. and ends around noon. Dine-in begins at 11 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. Last year, about 1,300 dinners were delivered.
“Dine-in and carry-outs tend to be about even each year,” said Daisy Lawler, who is helping with the carry-outs.
Those volunteers who deliver the dinners are given a map of the locations, addresses and phone numbers so that they don’t get lost and the dinner can be delivered on time.
“It’s fun,” said Sonny Webb, who has helped organize the event since its inception. “It keeps getting bigger every year. We started with one food line and now we have to use two.”
The food is either donated or purchased with money donated for the cause each year.
Volunteers started setting up Tuesday at the Conference Center at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center. The largest room is set up with chairs and tables. It can hold up to 450 people at a time.
When people arrive for the dinner, they check in and are escorted to the room with the tables and chairs. Volunteers then serve them a full meal.
“They don’t have to serve themselves,” Webb said. “We even have a lady playing the piano the entire time people are there. She’s been doing that for 18 or 19 years.”
On Wednesday, volunteers were feverishly making sure all the food was ready for today’s dinner.
Jerretta Davidson from Corum, known as the “gravy lady,” said that she will cook four or five 10-gallon pots full of gravy before dinner is served. Three whole turkeys were used for the gravy.
“I got involved six or seven years ago when my high school-age son started volunteering,” Davidson said. “He asked me to come help out, as well, and I eventually became the gravy lady.”
The dinner is free and open to anyone.

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