Christmas dinner delivers the whipped cream on top

CHIMACUM — Donna Valaske has family members in Yakima and Florida, but none are close enough for her to spend time with them during the holidays.

She also doesn’t want to be alone at the senior living facility where she lives in Port Hadlock.

For Christmas on Wednesday, as she did for Thanksgiving, Valaske joined hundreds of people for a traditional dinner served by volunteers through the Tri-Area Community Meals program at the Tri-Area Community Center.

About 300 people were served throughout the afternoon, including 75 deliveries, chair Rita Hubbard said.

Valaske, 75, woke up Wednesday morning to Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” and was feeling down.

“It’s very good food, and the people are great,” she said between bites of ham. “I really take my hat off to all the volunteers. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what a lot of people would do.

“It kind of brings you back up again.”

The holiday spirit shined earlier in the day, too.

John Carter, a volunteer who served carrots on Wednesday, was sent to Safeway earlier in the morning to stock up on whipped cream.

“I needed a case, and all they had was chocolate and candy cane whipped cream,” he said.

Carter found 12 cans of the original flavor and made his way to the checkout stand. When a man behind him in line asked about all the cans, Carter told him they were for the community meal.

The man in line paid for all 12 cans at $4.99 apiece — a $60 bill, Carter said.

“He just needed one little thing, but he wanted to pay for the whipped cream,” Carter said. “That’s what Christmas is all about.”

Carter said he’s volunteered for the community meal for about 25 years, back when it started at Fort Worden.

Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP) ran the meal for a number of years before the Tri-Area Community Meals program took over.

That was five years ago, when Hadlock Building Supply and the East Jefferson Rotary stepped in to ensure a community meal would take place, Hubbard said.

Wednesday’s meal was the third one for Hubbard as the chair of the community meals organization, which secured a nonprofit designation earlier this year, she said.

The Christmas meal itself cost less than $1,000. It was funded by through donations and support from organizations such as Jefferson Healthcare and a local bank Hubbard preferred not to identify.

For patrons, the meal was free, although donations were accepted at the door.

Hubbard said 40 volunteers signed up to help on Wednesday, either with cooking or serving, or delivering meals to people who couldn’t be there.

None of the volunteers or board members accept any pay, Hubbard said.

“Everything we take in goes back to the meals,” she said.

Servers heaped on plates helpings of ham, scalloped potatoes, salad, rolls and pumpkin pie.

The latter was topped with the whipping cream, a job enjoyed by Rosemary Schmucker, 13, a student at Blue Heron Middle School in Port Townsend.

Schmucker’s mother, Anita, volunteered as a cook.

Rosemary said she’s helped at the event since she was 10.

“I just like to help people and give them some joy,” she said as she twisted a perfect spiral on top of a slice of pie.

Valaske said she used to serve people during a meal three days per week at the Tri-Area Community Center. Being part of Wednesday’s festivities also was about making social connections, something she doesn’t get to do as often as she’d prefer.

Hubbard said that’s part of what the meals are all about.

“We see people who are alone at Christmas, a lot of seniors and some who can’t or just don’t want to cook a big meal for just one or two people,” she said. “We don’t get a lot of families here. I wish we did, but my hope is that’s because they have someplace else to be.

“Our goal is to serve as many people as we can,” Hubbard said. “We want people to sit and visit and be part of a community.”

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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.