The Johnson family is again making plans to put on the JAMS Family Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day at the Knox Hall.
The family plans to donate any proceeds from the meal to the Cornish family, as Sandy Johnson explained, “This year we are donating the proceeds to my co-worker Crystal Cornish and her family as they incur numerous expenses to care for their infant son Nolan. Nolan was born with Down’s Syndrome and also a hole in his heart. He has some respiratory issues as well. The family has spent many weeks in hospital over Nolan’s short seven months, and are currently in Edmonton after Nolan’s heart surgery. We want to help them concentrate on Nolan and not to worry about money.”
In explaining the history of the JAMS Christmas tradition, Sandy said, “I am the matriarch of the Spencer family who have run the dinner for the past 13 years. In 2003 my husband Daryl passed away from a massive aneurysm at the age of 44. I was left with three children aged eight, 14 and 16. My husband and I had always loved the idea of a soup kitchen and in his memory my children and I opened up a small restaurant for families to come and spend time together. We called this restaurant the JAMS Family Fun Centre. The acronym JAMS is the first letter for each of my girls names as well as my own: Jen, Ali, Mikki and Sandy.
“At Christmas that first year, we did not feel like celebrating due to our grief so we decided to make a new memory. On Christmas Day we hosted 53 people for Christmas dinner in our restaurant. These people were folks like us who had either lost someone or were going to spend Christmas Day alone. Several people in our community donated food or cash to buy food so we could offer the meal for free. It was such a huge success that we decided to make it a yearly event,” she said.
“We ended up closing the restaurant the next year but have continued to host the dinner at a local hall since then. We decorate with lights, tables with red tablecloths and white lace and placemats. We use real dinnerware and fancy decorations. Most years we have volunteers come to sing Christmas carols and have even had a busker walk through the crowd with his guitar singing. We have added door prizes to the mix, which are usually wrapped or in gift bags. People love it and look so happy.”
When the family first started putting the supper on, it was slow going because people thought the dinner was for the homeless or the downtrodden.
“We have managed to get the word across that it is for anyone who is going to spend Christmas alone. We now have individuals ranging in age from babies to folks in their 90s and from many different socio-economic areas. We have also added home deliveries to shut-ins. Since the beginning people would not come for free so they insisted on paying. We suggested a price of $7 the first year, and have since moved to $10. Anyone who cannot afford to pay is free of charge. Over the past 13 years, we have hosted well over 1,000 people for Christmas Dinner. We have also raised several thousand dollars when people pay for their meals, which we donate back into the community each year,” Sandy explained.
Since that first Christmas the family have hosted 13 dinners. Each year individuals in the community donate cash so they can buy what is needed to host the dinner. Since the inception the family has accumulated the equipment necessary to host the dinner in its entirety. They have linens, cooking equipment, warming buffets, dishes and cutlery so that that they could have everything in one place.
“When it comes to volunteers we have been very blessed. Even on Christmas Day, there are folks willing to leave their families to come and help. We even have one family who do not attend the dinner but come to wash dishes at the end of the meal. That’s a lot of dishes,” said Sandy. “It would be difficult to name all of the donors as there have been so many over the years. We currently receive approximately $400 from the Wholesale Store, free use of the Hall, which alone is usually $700 per day, personal donors who drop checks off in our mailbox, and others too numerous to mention.”
Of her family’s continuing support for putting on the dinner each year, Sandy said, “My girls have been amazing. They have been doing this since their teens and all now have spouses of their own. All of these kids have dedicated (some say given up, but we don’t see it that way) their Christmases to host our family dinner. My six grandchildren have never known a Christmas without JAMS. I am very proud of them. Even my new husband Joel of almost seven years has gotten into the spirit. His mother even came to help one year. JAMS Christmas Day dinner has become a legacy that we intend to continue.”
