GREEN BAY (NBC26) — It’s been a Christmas like no other. While many of us spent the holiday apart from our loved ones, community members came together to bring Christmas to those in need.
The Four Winds Ministries of Wisconsin has held an annual Christmas dinner for 14 years. This year, they weren't sure if it would work, said Denise McFarline, event organizer. There were too many people who deserved a meal, she said.
"2020 has made home-bound just take on a whole new meaning," said McFarline.
The Spring Lake Church usually hosts an in-person dinner, but today, volunteers packed and delivered 500 meals all over the Green Bay Area. The food was provided by Festival Foods, prepped by the Marq Restaurant, and some desserts were donated from Perkins Restaurant and Bakery. The rest of the food was purchased with money from donations. There was such an outpouring of support, said McFarline, she couldn’t safely keep everyone busy, and had to turn some volunteers away.
“Some of the unique challenges this year I think was the large volume of offers of help," said McFarline. "Which was really a blessing.”
New this year too: blankets and hand-written cards were included with the meals. McFarline wanted to add a personal touch, she said, especially for those who would be eating alone.
“I did have the great pleasure of calling back every meal recipient and chatting with them for a while," said McFarline. "A lot of unique stories out there.”
Randy Bardouche volunteered for the first time this year.
“I thought it went exceptionally well for having a bunch of strangers come together," he said. "We just started putting meals together. It was like clockwork.”
This Christmas is just about making the best out of a not so great situation, said Bardouche.
“It’s certainly different," he said. "Nobody would’ve thought they were going to have a zoom christmas this year for sure. You have to make the best of it and hopefully everything works out good for everybody and we get control of this virus and we don’t have to do this again.”
