Families volunteer at Salvation Army to serve Christmas Day dinner

Hundreds of volunteers spent their Christmas afternoon helping out at the Salvation Army Christmas Day dinner, including many families that offered their services.

Among those families was the Jackson family, which volunteered at the annual dinner for the first time on Monday. Spencer and Sarah Jackson had thought for several years about coming to help with the Christmas dinner, and they finally did it. Sarah said they are members of Centenary United Methodist Church and wanted to be a part of the church helping others.

They brought their children, Luke, 8, and Hadley, 6, with them, and each said they enjoyed giving back to others.

Luke said he helped read to people, served food, water and pie, and Hadley even gave her reindeer ears away.

“It was amazing. I plan on doing this every year going forward,” Spencer Jackson said. “There are valuable lessons learned, like there are always more important things, and there are those who don’t have everything we do and to appreciate what we do have.

“It was great seeing them help others, giving back and understanding that Christmas is about more than opening up a box with a toy in it.”

Those are similar lessons Glenn Wilson hopes his children, Kiersha and Brayden, are learning as well. The Wilson family said they have volunteered at the Christmas dinner three or four times, and it continues to give them plenty of pride.

Kiersha said they served food and talked with the less-fortunate people who were being served dinner, and Brayden said he liked to make them laugh.

“It makes me happy and makes me feel grateful for everything,” Kiersha said.

Their father, Glenn Wilson, said it is a joy to serve and help others along with his children.

“I want (Kiersha and Brayden) to learn how blessed we are, and how every kid isn’t as fortunate as they are,” he said. “It’s always better to give than receive and to help other folks out.”

There were 808 meals served by the Salvation Army on Monday, with 214 of those being home deliveries, according to Major Tom Hinzman of the Salvation Army. Hinzman said they cap the number of volunteers at 300, which includes 75 to 100 who do the home deliveries.

One boy asked his father if volunteering at the Salvation Army Christmas dinner could be a new tradition, to which he agreed, according to Hinzman.

“We encourage it no matter what age. People love to see the kids, especially the homeless,” Hizman said. “A lot of them haven’t even opened their gifts yet. A lot of them wait until they are done at the Salvation Army.”

In addition to the meal, adults were given a University of Kentucky sweatshirt from Wildcat Wearhouse. A toy store set up by the Centenary United Methodist Church Youth Group provided gifts for children attending the dinner.

This story was originally published December 25, 2017 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Families volunteer at Salvation Army to serve Christmas Day dinner."