photo by: Sara Shepherd

Joseph Johnson, of Kansas City, Mo., enjoys a meal before starting his volunteer assignment at the Lawrence Community Christmas Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St. Volunteers delivered hundreds of meals throughout the community and served hundreds more people at the church.

Lawrence’s annual Community Christmas Dinner isn’t just for people who can’t afford a meal.

“It’s for anybody who wants to come,” co-organizer Deb Engstrom said.

That’s Engstrom’s favorite thing about the tradition, she said. A true “cross-section of the community” shares a meal together — people who are alone, people who bring their whole family, people who are homeless, even people who just don’t want to cook.

That was true Tuesday during the 25th annual free Community Christmas Dinner in the basement of the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St.

At lunchtime the dining hall was full of volunteers and guests, including people who were both helping and also enjoying the meal.

One of those was Joseph Johnson, of Kansas City, Mo.

Smiling wide with cell phone in hand, he snapped photos of his plate and selfies with almost everyone he talked to.

Johnson was just released from prison in Missouri less than two weeks ago, he said. After a second-degree murder conviction at age 16, this was his first Christmas free in 25 years.

“It feels good. I didn’t know what to expect,” Johnson said. “To be able to be here among these people — and eat real food — man, it’s amazing.”

photo by: Sara Shepherd

Teresa Grove, of Lawrence, serves stuffing at the Lawrence Community Christmas Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St. Volunteers delivered hundreds of meals throughout the community and served hundreds more people at the church.

Johnson has been working with a Kansas City nonprofit re-entry program, Connections to Success, with former Lawrencian Stephen Barbee. On Christmas Day, they came to Lawrence to join Barbee’s father, pastor Leo Barbee Jr. of Victory Bible Church, 1942 Massachusetts St.

Leo Barbee, who gave the blessing at Tuesday’s Community Christmas Dinner, said a number of people from his congregation were volunteering. He also brought his grandchildren this year.

“I wanted to expose them to the idea of service and giving,” he said.

Longtime volunteer Irma Tesar, of Lawrence, was on dessert duty, slicing pie and filling tables with the pieces.

Tesar said she’s volunteered 15 years, maybe more. She said her own family was far away, in California, when her neighbor, a First United Methodist member, got her involved.

“I just love doing it,” she said. “I love to help people.”

photo by: Sara Shepherd

From left, Kim Heck, of Lawrence, Mary Kate McWhirter, of Wichita, Tanya Pinegar, of Lawrence, and Josh and Shannon King, of Baldwin City, scoop food into to-go boxes at the Lawrence Community Christmas Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St. Volunteers delivered hundreds of meals throughout the community and served hundreds more people at the church.

Volunteers started at 6 a.m. to cook and prepare for the Christmas dinner — turkey and ham with all the fixings, plus donated pies and cookies galore. They prepared and delivered close to 800 meals around town and served another 300 or so at the church, Engstrom estimated.

While this is the 25th year of having the Christmas dinner at the church, the tradition goes back further, Engstrom said.

The event is organized by a committee, not the church, she said. And it originally started at a North Lawrence gentlemen’s club.

The event outgrew the Flamingo Club, Engstrom said, but some committee members found it a new home at the church and carried on, realizing that “we just could not not have a Christmas dinner.”

photo by: Sara Shepherd

David Ludwick, of Lawrence, plays the guitar and sings holiday songs at the Lawrence Community Christmas Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St.