Christmas pies

Just 29 days after the Lehigh Acres Rotary Club prepared a Thanksgiving dinner that served some 500 meals, they’re at it again – only this time it’s a Christmas dinner.

And it’s free, too.

“We planning for around 500 meals to be served, just like Thanksgiving,” said Mike Buff, chairman of the two community dinner events.

In addition to turkey, there will be ham and all the usual Christmas side dishes including holiday desserts.

Doors open at 11 a.m. at the St. Raphael Parish Hall, which donates the room and the kitchen to the Rotary for this annual function.

Serving continues to 2:30 p.m. Christmas afternoon and then all the volunteers must clean up the parish hall before they can go home and enjoy their own Christmas.

“We in the Rotary enjoy doing this and it is our Christmas girt to community like it has been for the past eight or so years,” Buff said.

The dinner is free to everyone in the community.

“If you live alone and have no place to go, you’re invited to come and share Christmas dinner with us,” Buff said.

“Or if you just don’t feel like cooking and going through all the hassle, you’re invited, too.

“In fact, everyone in Lehigh is invited, single folks, friends, family groups and the like,” he said.

“It’s a great way to spend Christmas Day. Every year we hear people say how much they enjoyed coming and thank us for doing this,” Buff said.

There are many who volunteer at both events and some who volunteer at the Thanksgiving event and others who volunteer at the Christmas Day event.

“It free as usual. Nobody is asked for a dime. There is a jar on the counter when you enter and if someone is so inclined, they can give a donation, but it is not a must thing to do,” he said.

Money donated to the cause on Thanksgiving paid for all the turkey and trimmings however. Whatever money is left over after paying for the food, goes into the Rotary’s community treasurery fund and will be used on Thanksgiving Day 2010 for the free dinner next year.

If you want to volunteer, the best thing to do is call Buff at 239-464-4253. That’s his cell phone and if he’s busy, leave a message and he’ll call you back. Sometimes people just show up, he said, to eat and then to ask if they can volunteer.

“We have a lot of cleaning up to do after that dinner, so all volunteers are welcome and they are appreciated. Volunteers not only cook the food, but they stand at the serving line and dish out the huge servings as guests walk down the line.

“They’ll even try to please you if you ask for dark meat instead of white turkey meat and if you ask for more gravy, you’re sure to get it.

“We aim to make everyone’s dinner a good one,” Buff said.

Many members of the Rotary Club’s families volunteer, giving up time at home.

Usually, a priest from St. Rafael’s Church begins the dinner with a special prayer and blessing of the food.

Buff even said that if there are folks in Lehigh who don’t have transportation, that should not be a deterrent.

“We will see to it that they get a ride here or else we will bring them a take-out dinner. We don’t want anyone to not be able to have a Christmas Dinner, so if you’re confined and can’t get out, call me on my cell number,” Buff said.

The Lehigh Acres Rotary Club is a small club of members of maybe less than 50 men and women. However, it is an active Rotary Club and does much to help the Lehigh Acres community. It was the first Rotary Club in Lee County to give dictionaries a few years ago to students in one grade in all the schools in Lehigh.

Now the other Rotary clubs in Lehigh have picked up the idea and are presenting free dictionaries to classes in all of the schools.

“Make sure you tell them that want everyone to come. After they open their gifts at home, jump in the car and come see us. The’ll be glad they did. Don’t be shy,” he laughed.

For those who are new to the area or who are not completely familiar with all of Lehigh, the dinner will be served on the grounds of St. Rafael Catholic Church on Lee Blvd., which is directly across from the Lehigh Walmart Supercenter.

It all starts with the volunteer cooks on Christmas Eve when they start baking the 20 turkeys and 60 pounds of ham they plan to serve.