OLDS/SUNDRE - Weeks before Premier Jason Kenney’s Dec. 8 announcement banning all indoor and outdoor social gatherings for four weeks, organizations across the region were already struggling with how to host annual community Christmas dinners.
It was in the later part of November when the Olds Lions Club and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105 made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Henry Sonnenberg Memorial Christmas Dinner.
“It would be wonderful if we could do it and we really feel badly about not being able to do it but just for the health of everybody we just have to shut it down this year,” said Dennis Wilkins, co-chair of the dinner and a Lions Club director on Nov. 19. “We have to really. It’s just not going to work. We don’t know how bad things are going to be in another month or how good they’re going to be.”
With COVID-19 cases escalating in the province, further gathering restrictions were enacted days later on Nov. 24 banning most indoor social gatherings with few exceptions. There were 13,349 active cases in the province at the time, 35,695 recovered cases and 492 deaths.
For close to 30 years, Olds resident Henry Sonnenberg had organized and cooked meals for Olds and area residents on Dec. 25.
In 2015, Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105 and the Olds Lions Club assumed the task of preparing and hosting the sit-down meal on Christmas while also delivering meals to those who couldn’t make it out. They fed about 400 last year, said Wilkins.
Organizers were struggling in November with how to host the event and abide by maximum gathering and social distancing restrictions which would have made it impossible to serve meals swiftly and efficiently.
With the clock ticking, organizers pulled the plug on the event for the health of all, including the countless volunteers who put heart and soul into making a memorable Christmas Day.
By the end of November, organizers would have been contacting the numerous donors and suppliers that help make the dinner a reality.
“We wish to thank all the town businesses, the private citizens, the attendees and volunteers for the support in making this function so successful for the past 34 years," he said.
It is hoped that the event will be re-established for Christmas 2021, said Wilkins.
Sundre’s dinner cancelled
Laurell Vooys, organizer of the Sundre Community Christmas Dinner, said she had been lining up plans to accommodate the annual sit-down dinner at Sundre’s Royal Canadian Legion under restrictions limiting the gathering to 50 people.
“I got approved for that whole thing on the Saturday, then the Monday or Tuesday of this last lockdown, we got shut down,” she said.
On Dec. 8, restrictions not seen since the first shutdown in March were enacted. As of that date, there were 20,388 active COVID-19 cases in the province, 51,000 cases listed as recovered, and 640 deaths.
A province-wide ban on all indoor and outdoor social gatherings was enacted along with a mandatory province-wide mask requirement among other measures.
In the past 12 years Vooys has organized the annual Dec. 25 meal, volunteers have always set up for 120 people for the sit-down meal and delivered food to others unable to attend.
“So, it was probably close to 160 or even 200 that we would feed,” she said.
It took about 50 volunteers to pull off the event with all the cooking, serving, cleaning and transporting, not to mention all the donations that made the free-meal possible.
“It’s a team, it involves a good part of the town,” she said.
While the Christmas dinner has been cancelled, Vooys is hopeful that a Cooking for Kindness dinner planned for Jan. 20 with still go ahead.
- With files from Simon Ducatel
