Free mid-day Christmas dinner

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — A holiday tradition for the Milo/Brownville area continues in 2014, as the annual free Christmas Day dinner for the community will be served on Thursday, Dec. 25 in the early afternoon.

    “Dinner will be served in the dining room of the United Baptist Church, which is located at 8 Pleasant Street,” said Nancy Cook, who along with her husband Walter and David and Terri Knowles is organizing the dinner. “The entrance to the dining room is in the back of the church.”
    Cook said the meal will be served from noon to 1:30 p.m. “We are going to go with ham, it seemed to go over well,” she said about the main course that was also on the menu last year. The Christmas dinner will also feature “potatoes and vegetables and rolls and a salad, and pies for dessert,” Cook said.
    For about two decades the dinner, which was started by Everett and Freda Cook, enables members of the community to come together for a shared meal on the holiday. The dinner serves as a social opportunity for some residents who may otherwise be alone on Christmas, and in past years has averaged about 100 in attendance.
    “We need volunteers on the 24th from 1-3 p.m. and then on Thursday, the 25th,” Cook said. “We need help in the kitchen at 10 a.m. and to serve the dinner at 11:30 a.m. or cleanup at 1 p.m.”
    Delivery will be available for those unable to be at the Christmas Day dinner.  Reservations can be made by calling Cook at 965-8410. Those looking to volunteer or seeking more information can also call Cook.
    “Takeout is the most important thing to me, that may be the only person they see,” Cook said, about the home visit being made on Christmas Day.