The Sunday Morning Club will host its 36th annual free Christmas Day Dinner at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington on Dec. 25.
And one thing is clear, said Sunday Morning Club Treasurer Tom Hall, “We need all the volunteers we can get.”
This is the first year since the onset of the pandemic that the club, which engages in various charitable efforts throughout the region, has hosted the event at the convention center. Despite their charitable focus, Hall said the event is open to everyone in the community, no reservation or prerequisites required.
“It’s open for anybody, not just the homeless,” Hall said. “It’s anybody who might not have anywhere to go for Christmas Day to eat with or don’t have anybody to eat with.”
Founded by Tom Stanken Sr., who passed away in 2019, the dinner started as a community meal on Thanksgiving but was so successful over the years that the club eventually switched it to Christmas Day. Hall said that the last time they hosted the meal at the convention center, about 1,600 people showed up for food, and about 400 volunteers worked the event.
“We cook for 1,800 people, so we’re doing about 500 pounds of turkey and ham,” said Chuck McHale of McHale’s Catering in Park Hills, which manages the food for the event. Other fare on offer will include green beans, potatoes, stuffing and other holiday favorites.
Reinhardt Foodservice, one of McHale’s catering suppliers, donates about half of the food, McHale said, and then the business supplies the rest.
The event includes not only the meal but also free gifts and toys for kids as well as chances to meet Santa and his helpers. Children’s bikes will also be given away on a first-come-first-served basis.
“My family being part of it means a lot to me,” McHale said. “… We always come home after the event and my daughters and son and wife and I’ll talk about something you saw at the event that really touched you.”
McHale recounts one touching event where he witnessed a boy open a gift in the event parking lot.
“He drops down in the parking lot to open his gift, rips open the gift, and it’s a simple jump rope,” McHale said. “And you would have thought it was a million dollars, just watching his reaction.”
McHale’s isn’t the only organization from the area that contributes to the event.
“We’re really lucky we have leaders who are congregants in our community who are passionate about this,” said Communications Director Jeff Stern of Issac M. Wise Temple, a synagogue in Cincinnati.
Volunteers from the temple have contributed to the event for years, Stern said, whether it’s helping serve food, managing the day’s logistics or, for one congregant, at least, being a clown!
The temple contributes about 20 volunteers a year, Stern said, but you don’t need to be part of a group or organization to help out.
“It’s just something we all look forward to,” said volunteer Diane Schleyer, who’s been helping at the event with her family for about seven or eight years.
Schleyer and her son, Devon, started volunteering to help build out Devon’s college application, and they enjoyed the experience so much that they started going back every year. Soon enough, her son’s girlfriend and friend joined them, Schleyer said, so “our little family unit went from two to four.”
“It’s something we all talk about,” Schleyer said. “Like, you know, in November, we already started talking: ‘Hey, did you see the flyer yet? Did the website come up yet to where we can sign up for volunteering?'”
McHale and Schleyer both speak to the event’s power and say that many people who try volunteering at one event end up coming back the next year because of how positive it is.
“When the volunteers come and work one year, they tend to stay,” McHale said. “… I tell people all the time, you’ll never regret to want it to be part of your Christmas tradition.”
“Come along; I’ll pick you up,” said Schleyer. “You’ll be hooked the first time.”
Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 25. The Christmas dinner will be served from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free parking will be available in the garage across Madison Avenue and the convention center. The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, a route of which goes to the convention center, will provide free rides to the event.
The Parish Kitchen, located at 1561 Madison Avenue, Covington, also offers a Christmas day dinner (meal only) served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sleeping bag handouts will be available while supplies last.
To learn more about volunteering, contact Lynn Haney at (859) 240-5603 or email HaneyL@fuse.net. Online volunteer sign-ups are available here.
UPDATE: The original version of this story misspelled the founder of the event’s name. The relevant lines have been corrected.