Annual dinner promotes Christmas bonhomie – Brandon Sun

Beginning in 1985, in a small church on the corner of Eighth Street and Victoria Avenue in Brandon, the late Rocky Addison introduced a long-standing Christmas tradition that continues to be held in high esteem by the community from the Westman area.

On Wednesday, approximately 400 volunteers channeled the holiday spirit to serve more than 3,500 meals at Westman and the region’s annual traditional Christmas dinner, held at the Keystone Center.

Since its inception, the annual Westman and area traditional Christmas dinner has been held at the Prairie Oasis Resort and the Victoria Inn, but primarily at the Keystone Center in Wheat City, which has hosted the annual dinner at least 25 times. Connie Lawrence, CEO and Executive Director of the Keystone Center, was instrumental in the smooth and successful running of the annual event.

The festive tradition not only meets the needs of community members, helping those who would otherwise be alone or unable to afford a hot meal at Christmas, but it also provides an experience for Western Manitobans motivated by camaraderie, holiday spirit, live music and lifting up their fellow man.

“They want the scholarship. They may be alone and what better place to come. It’s beautiful. They can enjoy a meal, fellowship, music and just a group of people coming together to help a group of people,” said Gladden Smith, event chair. Smith has worked as a dinner planner for more than 35 years.

However, organizing an annual event of this magnitude for the community is not a task undertaken by one or two kind souls. Rather, it is a collaboration between many proud volunteers and committed Brandonites who believe that Christmas is a time for communities to come together and unite.

As usual, Santa Claus was on hand to distribute gifts to children, while volunteers served hot and delicious meals to participants. Some volunteered as cooks, while others participated as drivers to deliver food to residents who could not attend the event in person.

Organizers praised the community’s involvement in this annual tradition, which continues to grow with each passing year. The City of Brandon even provided buses for attendees without cars, and several local and non-local businesses offered monetary donations and supplies that helped make Wednesday’s dinner a success. The mild weather probably also caused a higher than usual turnout.

“Normally when we do this, a lot of it depends on the weather. If the weather is nice, participation is higher. But we have put in place means of transport. I heard about the Brandon Transit with some routes for people who don’t have transportation,” said Frank McGwire, public relations director for the event, who has been active in the radio industry for three decades.

“It’s just amazing how a community can come together. And it’s a tradition for many families. Here you see families signing up to volunteer to wait tables, clear tables and even deliver meals to people. It’s nice to see that. I’ve even seen families here that I saw three, four, five or more years ago who keep coming back,” added McGwire, who likened the community to a family.

“Our committee is also like a family. We have known each other for many years. It’s nice to have these people who, when you assign certain tasks to people on our committee, know that it will get done. We’ve got everything sorted like clockwork after all these years, and it’s just nice to be a part of it.

Although this year’s dinner is celebrated as another significant achievement, next year’s event will mark the 40th anniversary of the dinner. McGwire suggested there could be an additional theme to commemorate the tradition’s history and serve even more people who don’t live far from Brandon.

“We want to improve it every year, but 40 years is a milestone where we’re probably going to put a special twist on it. I think if we can be even more accommodating and get more corporate sponsors on board, we can just make it even bigger for the city of Brandon, but also for the whole region, because it’s has become a tradition for people just outside the area, because well,” McGwire revealed.

This year, the nonprofit group announced that it had enough volunteers for all areas of activity, registered a week in advance, which is rare given that it usually relies on people who sign up to help at the very last minute: “I’m happy to report that all of our volunteer areas were filled last week,” McGwire told The Sun.

Volunteers, like Sirena Browett, who answered phone calls before and during the dinner, help out each year because of the positive impact the event can have on those who might feel neglected during the holidays.

“I think for me it means I can help someone have a good Christmas because we don’t know what people are going through and what happened to them this year,” said Browett, whose father Terry also volunteers with his wife to help spread holiday cheer in their hometown.

“In recent years, we would just go out with our family. It’s kind of our tradition to come and volunteer and just help out with us, having been a part of it before kind of being placed in different areas to help organize, prepare food and coordinate a good group of people. volunteers,” said Terry Browett.

He also acknowledged that Brandon’s Christmas tradition does not discriminate based on anyone’s sociopolitical or economic status.

“It’s not your financial status or what you have or don’t have that matters. It’s just that you have a place to be at Christmas, and that communion with other people is really what it’s about,” Browett told The Sun.

Father Christmas told The Sun that opening presents and giving them to children has always been his favorite part of Christmas.

“It’s the same feeling every year when you wake up and open your presents that are under the tree. It never gets old,” Santa said.

After dinner and with the cleanup in full swing, organizers were already turning their attention to 2025 and planning a celebration of four decades of serving the local community at Christmas.

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