New Beginnings serves Christmas Eve meal
WARSAW – Tom Matthews was one of about 50 people who volunteered at the annual Christmas Eve dinner for the community put on by New Beginnings Ministries in Warsaw.
Connie Dunfee, the wife of Pastor Bill Dunfee, organizes the meal, which she said has been going on for 14 years now.
“A loyal and committed congregation keeps it going,” she said. “They saw the need and followed through with it.”
Volunteers arrived at the church at 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, to start preparing the meal and by 10:30 a.m. they were out delivering them. People also were welcome to come in for a meal from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“The past two years we have served over 300 meals and they are wide spread from Mount Vernon to Plainfield to Newcomerstown,” Connie said. “We take them all over. A lot go to elderly that can’t get out or people who are just down on their luck due to the economy. My favorite memory though is the year we had the ice storm. We had generators going because we had no electricity and neither did a lot of other people. I think that was our biggest year.”
The meal features turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, noodles, corn, a dinner roll and cookies. The turkeys are cooked by members of the congregation and brought in and Bill and Connie’s daughter, who is a chef, supervises the preparation of the rest of the food.
Connie said she is very appreciative of everyone who helps out with the meal and enjoys hearing stories from the drivers about the people they met and had the opportunity to minister to or pray with.
“This is such a blessing and good for the children to see,” she said. “We are training a generation that it’s about giving. It’s a big day, but very rewarding. The good Lord willing, we will do it all over again next year.”
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Faith
