Christmas Dinner in 22nd year
by Doris Fleck

It was Christmas Day, 1987. A lonely, homeless Calgarian, who had given up on life, was on his way to the Bow River to throw himself in. Passing by First Baptist he saw a hand drawn sign for a Christmas Dinner and someone standing outside encouraged him to come in. He decided to have one last meal, but found himself among hundreds of other lonely people who were enjoying the festivities and new-found friends.

"He was still there at 10 o’clock at night helping clean up," said Del Bannerman, organizer of the annual Bannerman/Clark Christmas dinner. "He just said we saved his life and he’d never forget it."

"That man has come back a few times and given us money on Christmas Day to help somebody else," Bannerman shared. "That makes it worthwhile. One life is worth a lot."

Bannerman knows first hand how lonely Christmas can be in the face of tragedy or difficult circumstances.

In February of 1982, her two sons, aged 19 and 21, were killed in a car accident on the way back to Calgary from Lake Louise.

"It was a dreadful, dreadful time," Bannerman admitted.

The year before, her husband, Doug, had both his parents die within a week of each other. Doug’s sister, Gertie Clark and her husband had also lost a son to an asthma attack a few years before.

As the two close-knit families shared Thanksgiving in 1982, they were feeling very sad and wondering how they would ever get through Christmas.

"Our oldest daughter, Brenda said, ‘Why don’t we have a dinner and invite anybody who wants to come?’" Bannerman related.

Family members took the idea to heart and began designing invitations, deciding on a menu and purchasing food.

When First Baptist heard about the dinner, they immediately offered their facility. On Christmas Eve, the families sang Christmas carols downtown by The Bay and handed out invitations.

"We had no idea what we were doing," Bannerman chuckled. "We didn’t know how many people we were going to have."

St. David’s United, their home church at the time, provided some food and even baked a cake that said, "Happy Birthday Jesus."

"We went down to First Baptist Christmas morning and people kept coming all day and bringing things," Bannerman said in amazement. "We had 350 people that first year…and we never ran out of food, and we never have."

"It made us realize how many people besides ourselves are hurting at Christmas," she continued. "There are people who never had a nice Christmas and there are people who are separated from their family because of addictions or all kinds of things and then there are all the lonely people who need to be there."

"It impacted us to see Christmas is about giving to others and not just others in our immediate family or our small circle," Bannerman clarified. "It’s about giving period."

Now the dinner has moved to the Mustard Seed Street Ministry and become so popular over 400 volunteers are needed to assist in the event. But Bannerman doesn’t need to plead for help.

"As of November 1, we have all the volunteers we need," she said. "In order to volunteer, you have to get on the list early in October."

Famous street tandem Hutch and Bruce

Last year they cooked 100 turkeys to serve over 1,500 people. With gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, salads, pies, Christmas pudding, oranges, cake and cookies, Bannerman said, "it’s the best home-made meal in town." Businesses now donate presents, food and money to help out. Bannerman said this has enabled them to give some creative Christmas presents. One year they bought a bus ticket for someone to get home to Ontario. Churches in the city carry on the family tradition of buying winter socks and stuffing them with goodies and necessities. There is live entertainment from noon to 7 p.m. on two separate stages, and a craft table is available for families to make or paint gifts they can take home.

"Our faith is that we’re called to give to others and give unceasingly," Bannerman said. "This is totally our way of worship…to give to others, to feed the poor, to give somebody a jacket. We all try to do that wherever we are…but particularly at Christmastime, it’s not about us and that’s so great."