As snow fell in brief flurries outside, Ruthelyn Desmond scooped spoonfuls of mashed squash onto plates bound for about 100 people, nearly all of them strangers, in a Norwell church auditorium.
?I lost a lot of my family, and it?s not the same any more,? the Brockton woman said. ?This makes me feel like I have lots of cousins ? and I love it.?
Desmond was one of dozens of people for whom Christmas might have been a long, lonely day were it not for an annual meal at the Church Hill United Methodist Church in Norwell. The dinner, which has been a South Shore tradition for more than a decade, is offered for free by the church?s congregation and a crew of volunteers who chose to spend their Christmas Day serving strangers.
?We just don?t think people should have to be alone on Christmas Day,? said the Rev. Stacey Lanier, the church?s pastor. ?Some people think it?s homeless people or poor people, but it?s not. It?s all kinds of people.?
On Sunday, the church?s auditorium was filled with couples whose children have grown up and moved out, siblings who have struggled to re-create Christmas without a parent who passed away, and many individuals who just didn?t have anyone else to share a meal with on Christmas. Jack Wahlberg, a volunteer from Hanover, said he spent his morning driving to assisted-living homes in Weymouth, Holbrook and Cohasset to collect people and bring them to the church for the dinner.
?It?s gratifying to help someone like that get out and enjoy an afternoon? he said.
Organizers said the practice of serving a free Christmas Day meal began around 11 years ago at Harbor United Methodist Church in Scituate and was brought over six or seven years ago to Norwell, where it has been embraced by the congregation. Coordinators work with local senior centers and churches to help reach anyone facing the prospect of a Christmas alone.
Rev. Lanier, whose family joined her for the meal, said many of the dozens of volunteers were there for the same reason as the people being served.
?A lot of the people who are alone on Christmas don?t want to be recipients,? she said. ?They want to serve.?
Neal Simpson may be reached at nesimpson@ledger.com.
READ MORE about Christmas on the South Shore.
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