THE ISSUE: It’s Friday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for area neighborhoods. Others are local stories of achievement, ingenuity, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light as we face critical issues in Pennsylvania and stressful developments in our nation and world. All of this uplifting news deserves a brighter spotlight, especially in this year-end holiday season.
We were awed when reading about Monday’s Christmas dinner at West Earl Fire Company in Brownstown. The annual yuletide event serves hundreds of people and offers eat-in dining at the fire company, meals to go and meal deliveries, LNP | LancasterOnline’s Lisa Scheid reported.
The logistics of it all, coordinated by three local churches and the Brownstown community for three decades, are incredibly impressive.
For some, it’s one of the most important meals of the year for the camaraderie it provides as a respite from grief or loneliness, which can be so magnified during holidays.
Scheid wrote of Donna Reinhart, whose centenarian mother died last month. “She was my best friend,” Reinhart said.
So, for this Christmas, Reinhart volunteered to work at the dinner.
“If you don’t have family to be with, why not be serving others,” she told LNP | LancasterOnline’s Scheid. “Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?”
The event began years ago in modest fashion, as a dinner for about 20 in the basement of Emmanuel United Methodist Church. It was started by Rick and Judi Summers.
Rick Summers, who died in 2011, had this as the founding motto: Nobody should spend Christmas by themselves.
Judi Summers, who still volunteers for the event, told Scheid that older people can struggle with loneliness in ways that are often not apparent to the wider community. For them, a Christmas meal and its associated fellowship can mean everything.
“It’s just a blessing to them — and us,” Summers said. “It’s not the food so much as having that connection. ... I believe everyone comes here to serve because that’s what God asked us to do. Actions speak louder than words.”
The actions are carried out by about 50 hardworking volunteers.
“It takes about four weeks for volunteers to cook 45 turkeys and 300 pounds of potatoes in commercial kitchens of the churches,” Scheid explained. “The food, donated through support of 11 businesses, is frozen and then thawed two days before Christmas. Children from the churches’ Sunday schools decorate the goody bags that carry candy and other treats to those who can’t dine in at the fire company.”
In what is perhaps the busiest and most hectic month of the year, it’s always heartening to see how many people in Lancaster County give their time and energy to help others.
More thanks
More things to be thankful for could be found in the Christmas Day thank-you letters published here on the LNP | LancasterOnline Opinion page.
As always, there were letters thanking health care workers. We always second the praise for the professionalism, expertise, kindness and friendliness of those who are by our side during our most vulnerable moments.
There were letters about restaurant meals or groceries being paid for by strangers. We always love it when they conclude with a promise by the letter writer that they will “pay it forward.”
A wonderful letter from Nancy Jenkins in Manor Township gave thanks to those who delivered all those packages to our doors throughout the holiday season.
Sometimes it’s just gifts we ordered online that are being delivered. Other times, it’s something far more vital. Jenkins noted that her husband recently needed a new portable oxygen concentrator — not exactly something they could wait a long time for.
“I was stressed out,” she wrote. “I contacted the East Petersburg UPS office. They told me they had the package, and it was on the truck. They talked to the driver and told me he would have the concentrator at the house by 10 a.m. He showed up at 9:40 a.m.
“He decreased my stress level and was a lifesaver for my husband and myself. I appreciated the extra effort he made in helping us.”
Jenkins concluded: “I want to give a special thanks to the UPS, U.S. Postal Service, Amazon and all other drivers who have been delivering my packages. They are all my unsung heroes and make a big difference in my life — and in the lives of everyone else who depends on their service.”
We agree wholeheartedly.
Finally, Bruce Riefenstahl of Mount Joy wrote to celebrate that 318 bicycles were collected in Ephrata this season and donated to the county’s Toys for Tots program.
“While I know we live in a generous and giving county, I am sometimes surprised by the magnitude of the generosity,” Riefenstahl wrote.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
