Community gathers for Christmas
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Staff Reporter

Diana Fogarty helps her son, Tyler, 9, with a cup of hot coffee at Westminster Community Christmas Dinner. Tyler volunteered with his family to help serve food at the annual event. Journal Photo/Caitlyn Kelleher

The VFW Post in Westminster was ablaze with the spirit of the holiday on Christmas Day, as members of the community came to eat and to serve the annual Community Christmas Dinner.

The large tables were covered with red table clothes and white plates and the smell of turkey and sounds of laughter filled the air.

Irene Gagnon celebrated her 10th Christmas dinner at the VFW this year. The 80- year-old woman said she arrived at 11 a.m. on the dot.

“I love it here,” she said.

Annikki Ala-Nisula and Lorry Mayner joined Gagnon at her table. The three women live at the Wellington House, located close to the VFW.

“It’s a good way to get together,” Mayner said.

She said the rooms in Wellington are too small to have everyone gather for a sit-down dinner. So more than 30 residents from the Wellington came for dinner at the post.

“It’s a good meal,” Ala-Nisula said.

Westminster residents Glenn Forsyth, left, and Bettina Donelson dish up food at the annual Christmas dinner at Westminster’s VFW Post. The dinner usually seats about 100 people. Journal Photo/Caitlyn Kelleher

Those eating the turkey, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and desserts weren’t the only ones enjoying them- selves.

Tyler Spencer, 9, and Eric Spencer, 7, were two of the many volunteers hustling around the dinning room.

The brothers joined their parents to serve tea, coffee and other beverages to the diners.

“We thought it would be good to volunteer,” said the boys’ mother, Diana Fogarty. “It’s good to donate our time.”

The boys barely stopped in their treks from the kitchen to the decorated tables as they tried to keep everyone happy.

“They are loving it,” Fogarty said.

New volunteers were not the only ones busy on Monday. Glenn Forsyth, a member of the VFW, spent his time dishing up the food for both those eating at the post and those who just wanted to take it home.

“It’s Christmas and this is what it’s all about,” said Forsyth, who has volunteered at the dinner for about 20 years.

Wayne Donelson, one of the event’s organizers, said there were no problems finding volunteers this year. In fact so many people called him, he actually had to turn some down. But he took names for next year’s dinner.

“The public has been wonderful,” he said.

Donelson, who is the post chaplain, has been working at the dinner with his family for the last 15 years. One of his annual tasks is to take dinners to the police officers and firefighters who are on duty during the day.

“I love to be able to say thank you,” he said.

The Community Christmas Dinner has been held for more than 20 years at the VFW. The post’s members raise the money during the turkey raffle prior to Thanksgiving and then Donelson buys the food.

“It’s seven 26-pound turkeys,” he said.

Volunteers cook for 120 people and they usually have about 100 guests, Donelson said.

“We’ve never run out of food,” he said.

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Caitlyn Kelleher can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 14, or e-mail: editor@ thecommunityjournal.com