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| About 400 were treated to a traditional turkey and ham holiday dinner with all the trimmings, including mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, and more Sunday afternoon during the annual Project Hope of Easton Christmas dinner celebration held in the banquet hall at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Downtown Easton. Click on any photo for a full-size view |
With two seatings this year--one at noon and the other at 3 p.m.--the very happy crowd also received gifts including toys for children, new winter weather scarves, hats, and gloves, gently used clothing, bags of groceries, and lots of sweets and chocolate. Children were also treated to a visit and photos with Santa Claus.
"It's wonderful," said Project Hope Chairwoman Judy Walker of the day. "We get more organized every year. The two seatings helped tremendously."
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| Project Hope of Easton Chair Judy Walker, right, with her husband Dr. Stanley Walker, also a key organizer of the event, look out over a happy crowd at the annual Christmas dinner celebration. |
While Saturday's snowstorm left the dinner with about 45 volunteers, down from an expected 75, the event went off without a hitch.Dinner guests are invited through local community organizations, word-of-mouth, and through flyers posted throughout the City of Easton.
"It's for anyone who feels they have a need," Walker said.
More than 40 individual and corporate local sponsors provide everything needed for the annual holiday celebration, now in its 27th year, from food for the dinner to desserts to toys to hand knit items to monetary funding.
"The kids just keep smiling and smiling," noted first-time volunteer Pat Gordon of Phillipsburg, NJ. "It's unreal."
For more information about Project Hope of Easton, click here to visit the organization's website.
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| A young guest enjoys a cookie. |
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| Smiling volunteers served about 400 guests at the annual Project Hope of Easton holiday dinner Sunday afternoon. |
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| Mike Metzgar of Wind Gap provided live music during the event. |
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| Members of the Easton Fire Department visited the dinner to distribute chocolate reindeer lollipops to kids. |
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| Arthur Sickles and Yvonne Werkheiser, both of Easton, show off their animated holiday hats |
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| Project Hope volunteers April Shannon of Lopatcong, NJ and Shirley Falk of Phillipsburg NJ had a sweet job, distributing desserts Sunday afternoon. |
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| Stew Miller of Easton was delighted to receive an Eagles hat at the Project Hope holiday dinner on Sunday. |
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| It's hard to decide which to eat first, chocolate or cookies.... |
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| Thomas Thompson of Easton said he shoveled "four tons of snow" before he could attend the Project Hope dinner Sunday. He added it was worth it. |
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| Editor's note: Project Hope of Easton board member and organizer Dr. Stanley Walker kindly offered me the opportunity to distribute some chocolate to guests Sunday afternoon, which I took him up on, whereupon he took up my camera. Credit for this photo goes to him. I'm on the upper left. |
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