St. Marys Methodist Church offering free Christmas dinner

ELK COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) – For nearly 30 years the St. Marys Methodist Church has offered a free Christmas dinner and this year they will offer it once again via delivery. 

The Christmas Day Dinner was created to provide a meal and fellowship for anyone who was alone or was unable to provide a meal for themselves and their families.  This year they have decided to offer delivery service only again.  

Last year over 400 meals were delivered to families and individuals, including St. Marys, Kersey, Bennetts Valley, Johnsonburg, and other outlying areas.  

“I think it’s just a great opportunity to reach out, pay it forward that way. You’d be surprised the people who are not only in need, but they’re alone,” Co-Chair of the Christmas Dinner Ed Schlimm said. “They have nobody to just sit with them. A lot of the drivers that deliver the dinners call me back and they’ll say they delivered a dinner to someone who has nobody and they’ll go and sit with that person.”

The Christmas Day Dinner is not need-based, but rather an outreach to share the Christmas spirit in the community.

“I tell you, it’s just so heartwarming to see the amount of people that come together to help pull this off,” Volunteer Kim Schlimm said. “The effort that’s given the selflessness of the whole project. I come in here and like I said, I’m a support system to these guys just helping where I’m needed. But it’s to see the smile on everybody’s face, how much they love doing this.”

To make a reservation for a Christmas dinner you can call 814-781-7401 by Dec. 22.