PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles branch of the Salvation Army brought Christmas cheer to more than 200 people, while the First United Methodist Church served 90 on Friday.
Although the Salvation Army branch at 206 S. Peabody St., in Port Angeles serves daily meals, and each year provides presents to those in need around the holiday, a Christmas Day lunch — which included ham, turkey and all the fixings — was a first for the group.
The need was certainly there.
“We’ve had such heartbreak,” said Salvation Army Pastor Darvin Jordan, referring to people who told him they recently lost a home or loved one.
“It’s got to be the worst Christmas of their life.”
The smiling faces that afternoon in the Salvation Army’s gym said otherwise.
Lisa Shaw of Port Angeles said that the Salvation Army gave family members a Christmas they couldn’t afford on their own.
Shaw, her husband and three children have lived in a motel since early November after moving from Neah Bay to Port Angeles in search of work.
While trying to save money for a rental deposit, they have little to spare for the holiday, she said.
“If I didn’t have the Salvation Army I don’t know what I’d do,” said Shaw, holding her 5-month-old son, Michael, who was wearing a Santa outfit.
“We’d probably be sitting in the motel room eating TV dinners.”
Shaw said the family also received several donated presents at the Christmas lunch.
Santa Claus visited both the Salvation Army feast and the dinner prepared at the First United Methodist Church in Port Angeles.
90 attend dinner
About a dozen volunteers from the First United Methodist Church served 90 people at the 5:30 p.m. Friendship Dinner at the church at 110 E. Seventh St., in Port Angeles, said Rosanna Yates-Bailey, who coordinates the dinners.
The church provides weekly Friendship Dinners, which are prepared on a rotating basis by different churches and service clubs, she said.
The Christmas dinner was a special holiday meal, accompanied by piano and violin music, Yates-Bailey said.
The meal served “mostly adults, she added, “some people I haven’t seen before and then some who are fairly regular.”
The First United Methodist Church plans another holiday meal on Friday, New Year’s Day, with doors opening at 3 p.m. and dinner served at 5:30 p.m.
Golf Club’s help
Jordan at the Salvation Army said that the lunch almost didn’t happen because the Clallam County Health Department told him a few days before Christmas that the turkeys had to be cooked in industrial-sized ovens.
The organization was planning to have the 10 turkeys cooked in home ovens.
“You think I can call someone and ask to cook 10 turkeys on the 23rd?” Jordan recalled asking.
The department suggested that he contact the Peninsula Golf Club, which has large ovens, for help.
To Jordan’s relief, the club didn’t hesitate.
“The community has been so very gracious,” said a jubilant Jordan.
The Christmas lunch also came together with the help of about 50 volunteers, he said, mostly from other churches.
Jordan said the Salvation Army branch is looking forward to doing the same lunch next year. He hopes to have an upgraded kitchen and gym by then.
“Really, the facility is not adequate for what we are doing,” he said, adding that the organization is in need of donations to fund the upgrades.
For information, or to make donations, phone the Salvation Army at 360-452-7679 and the First United Methodist Church Friendship Dinners coordinator, Yates-Bailey, at 360-452-8069.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
