Planning for the annual Earl Naswell Community Christmas Dinner is ongoing, and there’s an opportunity for businesses and individuals to help out. The Earl Naswell Community Christmas Dinner was established in 1982, when Mr. Earl Naswell went door-to-door to businesses, asking for help to provide a Christmas dinner for himself and about a dozen friends. The Comox Valley business community responded in droves, and a tradition was born.
What began as a dinner for 12 has evolved into the largest community Christmas dinner in the Comox Valley.
The event has traditionally taken place at the Florence Filberg Centre in downtown Courtenay.
When the pandemic hit, organizers were forced to rethink the process, and replaced the dine-in event with a delivery service.
What used to be a gathering of approximately 250 people (with most taking a second meal with them as they left) turned into a delivery service of more than 700 meals.
“We found there were a lot of people out there who were alone at Christmas, but weren’t interested in coming to an event, so when word got out we were delivering, the requests for meals skyrocketed,” said co-ordinator Rob James. “Last year we cooked 44 turkeys, 90 kilograms of boneless hams, 250 pounds of potatoes and prepared a total of 720 dinners, all delivered to our guests at home on Dec. 25. Each guest received a beautifully decorated bag with a complete dinner, dessert, baked goods, and a bag of Christmas goodies.”
The Earl Naswell Community Christmas Dinner relies solely on donations to carry out the event.
With the rising food costs, and the effect the pandemic has had on businesses’ ability to contribute, organizers are reaching out to the community to ask for a helping hand.
“The last couple of years, prices have gone up, our sponsors have all had supply chain issues, then they had to deal with COVID, and the floods last year, so there are a lot of factors,” said James.
So how can businesses or individuals contribute?
“Well, cash is always the best, so we can use it as we need,” said James. “We just want to make sure we have enough funds to cover our expenses for this year. This is the 40th anniversary of the event this year, and we are expecting to deliver more than 700 dinners again, so the need is great.
“They can contact us at earlnaswellchristmas@shaw.ca for any more information.”
That is also the email to use for e-transfers.
Another area the event needs help with is take-out containers. There will be a call-out for volunteers in a few weeks, as well as information on how to register to have a dinner delivered.