“mailto:mtoadvine@breezenewspapers.com”>mtoadvine@breezenewspapers.com

“We served close to 400 people on Christmas Day,” aid Mike Buff, chairman of the Rotary Club of Lehigh’s annual Community Christmas Dinner.

“Thanks to our club members and our volunteers, it went off as a success,” he said. “And we plan to do it again next Thanksgiving and next Christmas.

Shortly after noon, the lot at the St. Raphael Church was filled with parishioners attending Christmas Mass. But it didn’t appear that many from the church attended the free dinner that was open to everyone in Lehigh.

“The people came in throughout the late morning hours and early afternoon hours,” Buff said.

Rotarians cooked 21 turkeys and several large hams and the servings were huge. Many who could not eat all that was given to them asked for plates to take them home to eat the next day.

“This is something that we in Rotary enjoy doing. We want people to know about it. We hope the word gets around. We thought this year there would be more people because of the economy,” Buff said. “So we cooked more food.”