To St. Marys With Love free community dinner returns to PRC Dec. 7
- Galen Simmons
- Oct 29
- 3 min read
The fourth-annual event is expected to feed roughly 400 people
By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
An annual holiday tradition that serves to foster community connection over a free, roast-beef dinner is returning to the Pyramid Recreation Centre (PRC) on Dec. 7.
Inintially inspired by Simple Dreams Ministries’ To Stratford With Love community dinner, To St. Marys With Love has morphed into a uniquely Stonetown event, giving residents a chance to connect with each other and with the many social and service clubs and organizations that make St. Marys what it is.
“It’s a little different in that just the feeling of it is a very different feeling,” said Rev. Gwen Ament, who co-organizes the event with former To Stratford With Love volunteer David Steward. “I’ve always felt that working collaboratively is very important. … We sit at round tables and encourage lots of conversation across the table from one another. We really look at it as a way for people to get to know somebody else in the community. I’ve had families in tough times and they’ve brought their entire family out. It just feels like you’re sitting around a nice table having a family dinner.
“All of our community groups – the Rotary, the Kinettes, the Kinsmen, the Lions, the Inner Wheel, the United Way, our volunteer firefighters – have all been involved as volunteers, and that’s very different than To Stratford With Love. They have a different model … but I just felt it was a way for our community minded groups to help build that sense of community.”
Largely supported by a Town of St. Marys community grant each year, which covers the cost of the PRC rental, as well as by the St. Marys Presbyterian Church Legacy Fund, Quadro Communications and donations made at the event itself, To St. Marys With Love provides a free roast-beef dinner with all the fixings to roughly 400 people each year.
Now in its fourth year, the meal is coordinated and cooked by a team of volunteers led by professional chef Nathan Brown, with some of the food served donated by local and other businesses. This year, the buns are being donated by Weston’s, the vegetables are being donated by Stonetown Foodland, pop and water is being donated by Coca-Cola and Sunset Diner is providing horseradish and butter.
Even local elementary students get involved with the meal. This year, students from St. Marys’ three local elementary school will be colouring placemats on which dinner will be served. In past years, Ukrainian newcomers have also cooked plates of perogies to serve as part of the dinner to show their appreciation for St. Marys and its residents.
Ament said the dinner is a perfect opportunity for those who may be new to town to meet new friends and neighbours, and for those who already live here to find new ways to give back, possibly by joining, contributing to or volunteering with one of the many community groups in attendance.
“It reaffirms that there is goodness in the world, and I think we all need that right now,” Ament said. “I really would encourage people to come. Maybe there’s a new neighbour who doesn’t know everything about St. Marys and what’s available. … We have a lot to celebrate. I think we’re very, very fortunate. We have a lot of services available (in St. Marys), but also a lot of people who help.
“ … It’s difficult these days for community groups to get people to sign on for things, but when you can actually see the work that they do, people will say, ‘Hey, maybe a way I can contribute back to the community is I can join the Lions or I can join the Kinsmen or the Rotary.’ The dinner has an all-around, good, positive effect.”
Tickets are free but required and can be picked up at the library, the Friendship Centre, the Monday community dinners and The Sunset Diner beginning in the last week of October. Doors open at the PRC’s Entrance D on Dec. 7 at 4:30 p.m. and dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m.
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