In anticipation of the launch of Jasper’s Community Dinner program on January 11, contributor Sophie Pfisterer has this report on the Community Christmas Dinner which took place December 25

On Christmas Day, nearly 200 people gathered, just as they have for the past 12 years, at the Jasper Activity Centre.

They were there to share a meal, to break bread, and to enjoy the company of their fellow Jasperites. Like many things in this town, it wouldn’t happen without the sacrifice of volunteers.

“I don’t call it a sacrifice,” said Denise Mellett, the dinner’s main organizer, who expressed her gratitude that her husband, as well as one of her sons and his girlfriend, was volunteering in the kitchen alongside her.  

Mellett has organized the Christmas Dinner for the last 12 years. She said it remains extremely important to her to. be able to provide for individuals and families on Christmas Day.

“Leave the cooking to us,” she likes to say. “We will unite with you here.”

Although they are hosted in the same room and many of the same Jasperites attend both, the Christmas Community Dinner remains a separate event from the regular Sunday night community dinners. Those weekly events, which start this Sunday, January 11, are largely sponsored by a single organization or restaurant.

The Christmas Day Community Dinner, on the other hand, is led by Mellett and only comes to fruition through the many contributions of food, time, and money from a wide range of individuals and organizations across the community.

The turkeys this year were donated by the Pursuit Community Fund, then delivered to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge to be roasted and trayed by their team of cooks, before being passed along to the team of generous volunteers. Those volunteers return year after year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Mellett said, to not only carve the turkeys but prepare all of the other accompanying dishes and the dining hall itself. 

More than 15 organizations, including the Canadian Red Cross, Local Teamsters Division 898 (CN), the Jasper Food Recovery, Alpine Summit, and Becker’s Chalet, donated essential funds or food. The degree of collaboration sets Jasper apart from other towns, says Patrick Mooney, long time supporter and former organizer of both the Christmas Dinner and the Community Dinners.

“It became the Jasper thing that other towns knew about,” Mooney said. “Communities from all over the province and the country … would phone me and say, “how do you do that?’”

When he first came to Jasper in 2002, Mooney, helped spearhead the Christmas Dinner at the Jasper Legion. The success of that initiative planted the seed for a regular Sunday night dinner. Combined with a dry snow year which meant many workers in town were laid off, there was a need idenfitied.

“We were going to do it once a week. Every Sunday. And we said free, and we meant free,” Mooney said.

In the wake of the 2024 Jasper Wildfire, the Canadian Red Cross has stepped up in a big way to be the lead funder for Community Dinners.

Mooney has been there since the beginning.

“I only missed one in 17 years,” he said.

He recalled fondly when Mellett became involved.

“Denise had so much fun that she started volunteering every Sunday,” he laughed.

Mellett volunteered for four years before taking the lead in 2017. Like Mooney, she said many of the same Jasper volunteers show up like clockwork, to cook, serve, bus tables, clean and set up/take down the room.

“It’s like a reunion,” Mellett said.

With the rebuild placing ongoing strain on Jasperites, Mellett and Mooney believe deeply in the ability of the Christmas Day and regular Community Dinners to bring people together. They know this first hand—both lost their homes in the fire.

“I’ve seen it over the years where people get together with their neighbours or their good friends, and they do whatever throughout the day, and then they all meet here with the bigger community: friends, family, and community,” said Mellett. 

For those unable to make it to the Jasper Activity Centre, volunteers delivered meals directly to their doors. This year, deliveries were made to at least seven households throughout the evening. Transportation was also arranged for residents living in interim housing at Marmot Meadows to ensure they could attend.

With the wide range of donations, the community of individuals and families brought together over food, and the network of volunteers that has formed, the Christmas Day Dinner brings together many interconnected sub-communities throughout the entire process, helping to make our unique connections as Jasperites and our town as a whole, stronger. 

One of the dinners’ faithful volunteers, Charlie Finley, said that Community Dinners create stronger bonds within the community, suggesting that former municipal councillor, the late Andy Walker, had it right when he said community dinners help Jasperites feel like they belong.

Supportive organizations: 

Alpine Summit Senior’s Lodge; Andromeda; Becker’s Chalets; Community Outreach Services; Ed, The Bread Guy; Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge; Fiddle River Restaurant; The Jasper Community Team Society; Jasper Fire and Ice; Jasper Food Recovery; Local Teamsters Division 898; Municipality of Jasper; Pursuit Community Fund; The Canadian Red Cross; Girl Guides and Pathfinders; Aquafit Ladies

Generous cooks and volunteers: 

Bruce Baker; Annie Baker; Rihab Baroudi; Javiera Beiza Guerra; Ben Campeau; Louis Campeau; Chuck Cantlie; Anne Marie Couture; Sheila Couture; Heidi Fengler; Janeen Keelan; Helen Keheller-Empy; Loni Klettl; Ben Kresnyak; Janis Marks; Wendy Peters; Kinsey Peters; Glenda MacDowell; Denise Mellett; Patrick Mooney; Tyler Newton; Yumi Nishizawa; Jennifer Ottaway; Monica Rodrigues; Willie Saunders; Gord Trenholm; Ted Turnbull; Ange Wilson; Jody Wilson; Kash Wilson; Declan Unsworth; Theau Baroudi