By Maddy Vitale
For some, a Christmas tradition is spending time with family, eating a dinner with all of the trimmings and watching television.
For Mike and Peaches Lukens, their Christmas tradition has been to spend the holiday among people who, at one time, were strangers, but over 28 years have become an extended family.
They host a community dinner at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Ocean City that is for anyone who would like a full meal and company. It is for people in need or people who just want to share a Christmas feast.
“There are still people hurting all over. They are here,” Mike Lukens said. “They are next door. I don’t care if you own a mansion in the Gardens, if you don’t want to sit alone at Christmas that’s what the dinner is there for.”
At the Community Christmas Dinner at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, the couple, along with their daughter, Halley Martinez, and about 70-plus volunteers, transform a room into a festive dining hall.
Dinners for anywhere from 400 to 1,200 people will be served. Seventy turkeys with all the trimmings, ham, stuffing, gravy, pounds of roasted red potatoes, mashed potatoes and desserts are just some of the delicious foods that will be on the menu. Entertainment will include a pianist and a karaoke machine. There is also a room filled with clothing and toys for people in need.
The dinner is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas Day at the church, located at 8th Street and Central Avenue. Dinner is also delivered to people who can’t leave their homes. Takeout meals are available, too. Transportation is provided for people needing a ride to the church.
“The dinner has been our Christmas. We have our family all there, but we are spread out doing different things,” Peaches Lukens explained. “It feels fine for us. It might not work for some people who have their Christmas traditions. But it is our rendition of what Christmas should be.”
On Sunday, Peaches and Mike Lukens and a host of volunteers were setting up, putting red tablecloths on dinner tables and making the dessert tables up with cookie trays. Even the children were helping out by breaking open the bags of candy to organize on a table.
Mike Lukens said the credit should go to the volunteers who help make the dinner happen year after year.
“People love to give and some just don’t know how,” he said. “This dinner is a vehicle where they can do a little or as much as they want. It is an event that brings the best out of people.”
Volunteers were busy in the kitchen Sunday. Chris Errickson, of Corbin City, Carolynne Rusek, of Somers Point, and Mike Perkins, of Upper Township, chopped celery together and shared some laughs and conversation.
For Errickson, it was his second year helping out. He said he and his wife, Stacey, enjoy doing what they can to support the dinner.
“We have lots of stuffing to make and we have to de-bone the ham,” Errickson said, adding that they will work until they are done.
Rusek said it was her first year. She had heard about it and thought it would be something good to do.
Perkins and his wife, Julie Baumgardner, both grew up in Ocean City. They have volunteered for many years. Perkins is a longtime friend of Mike Lukens.
“We surfed together in the ’70s and now we sail together. This is the best part of Christmas,” Perkins said.
Baumgardner, who is in charge of the delivery and takeout tables, told Peaches Lukens long ago, “As long as you guys do this, I’m with you.”
The Community Christmas Dinner was the creation of Peaches and Mike Lukens and they continue to run it. However, last year the church, with the help of community leader Jennifer Bowman, started to handle the fundraising to purchase food and other items. Still, many organizations donate to the dinner, Mike Lukens explained.
“St. Peter’s has really been supportive of us. They are our steady Eddies,” he said.
While Peaches and Mike Lukens don’t have to dedicate time to fundraising, their hope is to focus more on getting the word out, through social services and other agencies, to let people in need know about the dinner. They also would like to make more deliveries to people who are unable to attend.
“I hate that someone living in a house three blocks from the church doesn’t know that we can deliver a dinner to them,” Peaches Lukens noted.
Someday, the two hope that their 32-year-old daughter, Halley, will take over their role as the head of the dinner. Already, they see her beginning that step.
“I love looking out of the kitchen and seeing Halley doing her part for the dinner,” Peaches Lukens said.
She added that the event holds a lot of significance for the Lukens family, because of what it means to so many.
No matter how many people attend the dinner, there is always more than enough food. Many people go home with extra dinners, she said.
Then there is the “freebie room” or “miracle room,” as she calls it. There, people in need are allowed to take donated clothing and other essential items.
“I don’t know where it comes from, it just shows up,” Peaches Lukens said. “There is a ton of stuff in there already. There are always lots of winter coats. There are a ton of socks. There are zipper bags for toiletries and ornaments. We call it the miracle room.”
For more information about the dinner or if you wish to volunteer, call Mike Lukens at 609-892-3482.
