By MADDY VITALE
Volunteers at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Ocean City did their part on Christmas Day to make it possible for others to have a delicious holiday meal.
The longtime tradition at the church at 501 E. Eighth Street for a “Community Christmas Dinner,” fills a need that continues to grow over recent years.
The dinners, consisting of ham, mashed and sweet potatoes and green beans, are courtesy of Bill McGinnity, of Nobil Catering, and many other generous contributors, such as Tom Spadafora, who also lends his van each year for deliveries.
Bags lining the tables inside St. Peter’s were stuffed with tasty sides, including applesauce, rolls and even chocolate cake for dessert. Entrees were placed in each of the bags for pickup and delivery.
Monroe Palzer and his wife, Sara Masciantonio, and their children, Noah, 11, and 9-year-old daughter, Bella, were busy bagging up the dinners to hand out or stack into boxes for delivery.
The family doesn’t live in Ocean City. They moved to Egg Harbor Township seven years ago. But Palzer, 48, and Masciantonio 40, said they want to teach their children the importance of giving back to a community.
“I grew up in Ocean City. I want to give back to the community that helped me and my family. I grew up poor,” Palzer said. “There were six of us. As kids, we went to all of the places and got food and gifts. I will never forget all of the help people gave us. This is a way to give back.”
Masciantonio added, “We want to teach the kids that Christmas is about more than getting and giving presents.”
Kathy Thompson, a member of St. Peter’s Church, is one of the organizers of the take-out dinners.
She said there were 225 meals ready to be delivered or picked up for those in need. Each person who came to the church Christmas Day to get their dinners told the volunteers how many they needed and were quickly handed bags filled with holiday meals.
The volunteers began at 9:30 a.m., instead of the scheduled 10 a.m. start time, because of the line already forming to pick up the free meals.
“The way they are coming, I think we may just have enough,” Thompson noted.
Whether packing up the meals, picking them up to make deliveries or handing the dinners out, the team at St. Peter’s had an organized system in place.
Shirley Hawthorne, another volunteer and member of the church, said she enjoys volunteering to deliver the meals.
“These are wonderful people,” said Hawthorne, of Ocean View. “We go to church here and every year I make meal deliveries to the homebound.”
In addition to Thompson, Jen Bowman, who is in charge of the food ministry at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, and other church volunteers took over providing the dinners after organizers Mike and Peaches Lukens retired in 2019 from the event they created 30 years ago.
Thompson said the need from the community for the dinners has increased over the last three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
St. Peter’s Assistant Pastor Kathleen Crockford said there is a great interest in serving the meals from members of the church.
“That is the lifeblood of this church,” Crockford said. “We’ve been here for a long time in the community and we value the way that the people respond.”
