On Christmas Day, Hope’s Kitchen hosted their 33rd annual Christmas holiday meal at the Montezuma County Annex, marking it the first time the meal has been held in person since 2020.

On Thursday, United Methodist Church Pastor and meal leader Jean Schwien said this was her first time hosting the meal in person, since she took over in 2022 when the meal was still being hosted as a grab-and-go format.

A total of 400 people participated in the meal, with around 300 coming to eat in person, 44 meals delivered to homes and around 50 or 60 takeout meals. Over 70 people volunteered to serve food and deliver meals on the day of the event.

“The planning team was excellent and everybody did their job in advance so that the day was a lot of fun. Everyone was very well taken care of,” Schwien said. ”People seem to really enjoy being able to come in and sit down for the first time since before the pandemic.“

When asked in an interview with The Journal, Schwien said her favorite moment came at the end of the meal, when the volunteers had a chance to serve an elderly couple who arrived right at the meal’s end.

According the Schwien, the elderly couple arrived right after they had closed doors signaling the end of the meal.

“There was one couple who they clearly probably had a hard time getting out of the house. He was quite frail, and had a difficult time walking,“ she said. ”Someone saw this couple outside and went rushing out to help them. They didn't know that they were late.“

Schwien said one of the volunteers helped them inside and got them food. Then, the volunteer sat with the couple and talked with them.

“She sat down and visited with them the whole time they were eating so that they would know that they were welcome,” Schwien said. “She was so sweet to them and made them feel so welcome. It was really touching.”

Schwien also shared that on Christmas Eve, Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery called and said they would donate all poinsettias that had not been purchased to be used as table decorations for the meal.

“They donated 40 beautiful poinsettias, and we were able to send them home with guests and some of them went to the nursing homes,” Schwien said. “It just made the tables beautiful. It was lovely.”

Before the event, organizers had expressed the need for donations of approximately 70 pies. Community members went above and beyond in fulfilling this need, providing enough pies to allow organizers to donate extras to Hope’s Kitchen and Grace’s Kitchen.

No food went to waste,“ Schwien said. ”It went back to helping people that are food insecure in our community.“