The annual St. Michael’s Catholic Church Community Christmas Eve Dinner will serve the same food as it has in years past, but the way diners receive their meals and where they will be made will be different.
This year, the dinner, which is the Grand Forks church’s 48th annual, will be served via takeout or delivery. The dinner, which is free and open to the public, typically is held in St. MIchael's Youth Center in the afternoon and early evening of Dec. 24. In past years, volunteers from faith communities throughout Grand Forks gathered to make the food and serve it to hundreds of people.
This year because of concerns about how food would safely be prepared and served so that COVID-19 wouldn’t be spread, the St. Michael’s Community Dinner committee asked Northlands Rescue Mission Executive Director Sue Shirek if her organization could prepare the food for the dinner and do takeouts and deliveries from the mission.
“They were really concerned about how to have pods of preparers without people getting sick,” Shirek said. “We have our staff that works together every day. It's just like doing our Thanksgiving dinner."
This year about 800 people received Thanksgiving dinners from Northlands Rescue Mission, she said.
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Shirek asked her staff if they wanted to take over preparation of the Christmas Eve dinner this year, and they agreed.
The dinners, made up of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and corn, will be available for takeout from the Northlands Rescue Mission from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 24, and deliveries will begin that day at 1 p.m.
Volunteers are needed to help with deliveries to Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, and monetary donations and desserts are welcomed. The desserts can be dropped off at Northlands Rescue Mission’s front desk.
There is no charge for the dinners, but Shirek asks that anyone who wants one to call St. Michael’s Catholic Church at (701) 772-2624 after 4:30 p.m. and leave a message requesting the dinner or request one online at volunteerchristmas@gmail.com .
“Make the calls right away to make sure they have the food available,” Shirek said.
