Community Christmas Dinner again set at Eagles Club

The Community Christmas Dinner will be held again this year at the Havre Eagles Club on Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25, and organizers are looking for volunteers.

“All kinds of people come out of the woodwork to help,” Havre Eagles Club manager and chair of the community dinner Tom Farnham said.

The Community Christmas Dinner offers a free Christmas Dinner to everyone who wants to come, as well as delivering dinners to people who may not be able to travel to the Eagles Club, Farnham said. He added that the dinner may be at the Eagles Club, but it is not an Eagles Club event. It is organized, sponsored and put on by the community every year. 

He said everyone is welcome to eat at the event and everyone is welcome to volunteer at the event, too.

“We won’t turn them away,” he said. 

If people want to volunteer, they can go to the Eagles Club at 10 or 11 a.m. the day of the event, he said. He added that the dinner always has places where volunteers are needed, whether it is serving coffee or pie or preparing meals for delivery or take-out.

“Just show up,” Farnham said.

He added that the Havre Jaycees will be volunteering at the event as well as the Montana Hammers motorcycle club.

Dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The dinner will be a turkey dinner will all of the fixings, including mashed potatoes, yams, rolls and corn.

Farnham said that the Community Christmas Dinner is a long-standing Havre tradition and has served many people and families from all walks of life through the years.

He added that he is the third chair of the Christmas dinner in the past 40 years. The Christmas dinner started with Bob Sivertsen, who ran the dinner for 25 years before passing it to Jerry Bergren and his family, who ran the event for 10 years before turning it over to the Eagles Club to run.

He added that depending on the weather and people’s ability to travel, he expects anywhere from 750 to 800 people to attend the event.

Any leftover food will go to Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen, he added. 

“It’s a gift that keeps on giving,” Farnham said.

People who need take-out orders or delivers should call the Senior Citizens Center at 265-5464 by Monday at 5 p.m. to place their orders.