Community meal set for senior center

Bart McCurdy

FELLOWSHIP, FOOD AND FUN: Giving to others without considering the cost is what Christmas means to Jen and Bart McCurdy of Anderson, their extended family and many friends. For each of the past five years, despite personal hardships and family health emergencies, the McCurdys have hosted between 100-200 people on Christmas Day for dinner from noon to 3 p.m.

For the fifth year in a row, Jen and Bart McCurdy of Anderson are preparing to host a community dinner on Christmas Day for anybody and everybody who shows up at the Frontier Senior Center in Anderson.

"We are planning for anywhere from 150 to 200 people," Mrs. McCurdy said. "We have nine or 10 turkeys that various people are cooking for us, and another group is baking six or seven hams."

Last year, the McCurdys served 180 people. Some of them were church friends and family members, but most of them were people from the community - seniors who have no families with whom to spend Christmas Day, folks who live alone, the homeless and more than a few people who couldn't afford to provide their children or grandchildren with a decent meal but still wanted to spend time together, she said.

"We've never run out of food, but we have run short of some things sometimes and had to make a quick trip to the store," she said.

Although food and fellowship are the primary attractions, sometimes a homeless person will receive a blanket or gently-used coat donated for just such a purpose, McCurdy said.

"We prepare as best we can and every year God works it out for us. We always have on hand what the homeless and needy people tell us they need most," she explained.

Even the McCurdy children get caught up in the event.

"Our daughter Taylor, 8, makes sure all of the little children have a doll or a toy to play with. Our son, Billy, is 12. He sets up board games on a row of tables. And my husband loves to share the gospel so he spends a lot of his time just talking quietly with people," McCurdy said.