Spreading Holiday Cheer

If it were not for the Carthage Crisis Center's annual Christmas dinner, Carthage resident Tom Cameron might have spent Christmas alone at home.

"And I don't like my own cooking that well," Cameron said.

The dinner allowed Emilie Ward, Joplin, a chance to spend time with her daughter, Rachel Trost, Carthage and her family.

"I didn't want to cook, so we decided to so something different," Ward said. "This way I don't have to cook and I can spend more time with the family."

These were just some of the more than 175 people who came to the United Methodist Church at 614 S. Main St. in Carthage for the Crisis Center's third annual Christmas dinner.

Another 35 meals were delivered to the homes of people who could not get out on Christmas Day for a variety of reasons.

Brian Bisbee, co-director of the Crisis Center with his wife, Marilyn Bisbee, said the dinner was another chance for the Crisis Center to give back to a community that has opened its arms to help the people who rely on it.

"I continue to be overwhelmed by the graciousness of this community," Bisbee said. "Everything we needed has been provided by the community. We didn't put out solicitations for volunteers; people just started calling us. I'm also saying thanks for the graciousness of God because he provides all through people."

The dinner was held on Thursday, but the volunteering started on Wednesday as people started roasting the turkeys and hams and working on the rest of the food that would be needed to feed more than 200 people.

Marilyn Bisbee and Brian Bisbee estimated that between 50 and 75 people volunteered their time and talents to help put on this dinner.

"We have people of all different skills from chefs to people who just said put me where you need me," Marilyn Bisbee said on Thursday. "People just walked in and found their niche and started working. Everyone worked together from starting to prepare the food yesterday to helping with the cleanup today."

Brian Bisbee said the group had so many people call to volunteer he had to turn some away. He said a number of families brought their young children to help so they could teach them the value of community service.

The Amato family was one of those. Louis and Angie Amato, Carthage, brought their two young daughters, Haidyn, 7 and Sydney, 5, to help and ended up working the pie table.
Louis Amato would bring out plates with pieces of the various pies and the family kept the table stocked. If needed, Sydney or Haidyn would carry the pies for people to their seats.
The Amatos said this was their first year helping out at the Crisis Center's dinner, but they would like to make it a tradition.

"We decided we wanted to volunteer more and teach the girls about volunteering," Angie Amato said. "We wanted to teach them that Christmas was more about giving than receiving. It's fun and they're eating it up."

The message seemed to be getting through to the children.

"It's nice to help other people for Christmas," Haidyn said. "I like that I get to give back to other people."

"I like giving food out to people," Sydney said.

The dinner was also a time to see old friends and possibly make a few new ones as well.
Emilie Ward and Tom Cameron got to know each other while sharing a table. Ward's daughter, Rachel Trost said her mother liked meeting new friends.

"Give her five minutes and she won't be a stranger to anyone in the building," Trost said.
Brian Bisbee said he really liked the cross-section of people he saw coming to the dinner to eat and to volunteer.

"We've got everyone here from Leggett and Platt executives to people in situations where they have very little food in the cupboard," Bisbee said. "It's neat to see the young families volunteering and teaching their children to volunteer. That's what my family did when I was young and that's probably why I'm here."