FORKS — The temperature may be chilly, but inside the Church of the Nazarene, both the food and the company will be warm today.
A free, public Christmas Day feast will be served at the church at 170 Sol Duc Way in Forks from noon to 2 p.m.
Steve Bruce, assistant pastor at the church at 170 Sol Duc Way in Forks, was just getting to work on the stuffing early Wednesday afternoon, as he prepared to feed at least 40 people.
It’s the second annual Christmas meal organized by the Feeding the Five Thousand program, a church ministry that started a free Thanksgiving feast three years ago and that began offering a weekly meal each Tuesday about 15 months ago.
“It’s a wonderful ministry,” said Bruce, who brought the idea to the church board, asking to try it for one month.
“We stepped out in faith, with no budget, no resources for the church. Our refrigerators, our coolers, our cupboards were bare.”
Donations from community members, churches throughout town and the Forks Food Bank have kept it going, he said.
“We’ve been blessed with so much food,” Bruce said. “We feed between 40 and 100 people a week. It’s done for a fraction of a dollar per person, and it’s usually a five-course meal.”
The weekly meal also provides Bible study and prayer, Bruce said.
Today’s Christmas feast will offer food and companionship, with guitar music by Misty Clausen.
Bruce will prepare up to five hams and one turkey, while volunteers bring in homemade potatoes, yams and pies.
“For Thanksgiving, we had 16 pies,” Bruce said. “We’ll probably have at least eight or so.”
Wintry weather, which has left snow blanketed on the ground, may affect attendance, Bruce said.
“It’s kind of soupy and sloppy,” he said on Wednesday. “There are people who can’t get out of their driveways.”
Plates will be available to go. If a volunteer is available, plates can be delivered, he said.
The dining hall is downstairs at the church, but a foyer that is accessible for wheelchairs will be ready to serve anyone who has difficulty negotiating stairs.
Volunteers
Some eight or nine people will help serve and clean up, Bruce said.
More volunteers are always welcome, for today’s feast or for the weekly meal, which Bruce hopes to expand to twice weekly.
“Our main need is cooks,” he said. “There are only two of us, and one has been sick much of the time, so I’ve been doing most of the cooking.”
Bruce, a former logger, has been cooking since he was 12 years old in Centralia.
“I come from a huge family,” he said. As the oldest child, with both parents working out of the home, “I was used to cooking for a family of 12, so I knew how to economize with a family that large.”
He learned much of the culinary art from his Italian grandmother, Josephine Dipolia, but today’s feast will have no obvious sign of her influence.
“There’s no Italian flair this year. . . . I’m not doing Italian pastries,” Bruce said, although he added that he often makes Italian dishes for the Tuesday meals.
Bruce became a minister about three years ago. He has been a member of the church for six years.
He first came to Forks in 1971 to work for the state Department of Natural Resources, and worked for years as a logger.
His work as a pastor, and in the Feed the Five Thousand ministry is “not a job,” he said.
“We do it for the Lord. . . . It’s a blessing to be able to help serve the community.
“You know the story of the fish and loaves?” he asked, referring to the Bible. “Once you know how to multiple those fishes and loaves, you should do it.”
To volunteer or donate food, phone Bruce at 360-374-3218 or 360-780-0405.
Cash donations to Feeding the Five Thousand can be made through the Forks Betterment Association, P.O. Box 2431, Forks WA 98331.
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Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
