By David F. Rooney
After 20 years as organizer of the annual Community Christmas Dinner, Ginger Shoji is hoping a younger and more energetic elf will come along and take over this extremely worthwhile local event.
“I really need someone to take on the dinner,” she said in a brief interview on Wednesday, October 15. “It’s not difficult. They could even job-shadow me and find out how to do it.”
For those who are unfamiliar with this tradition, the Community Christmas Dinner offers a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings for people who are alone at Christmas, new to Revelstoke or simply needing a break from travelling elsewhere on the Trans-Canada Highway. This year’s dinner is to be held at the Ol’ Frontier on Christmas Day from 12 until 3 pm.
Among the not-so-difficult tasks the organizer needs to do in October and November is line up the acquisition of turkeys.
“I usually go to the lawyers and accounts in town cause they’re always employed,” Ginger said. “The number depends upon their size, but let’s say 10.”
Another fairly easy task is the acquisition of computer printer paper that has a Christmas letterhead theme.
“We need that for the posters, which have to be up by December 1,” she said.
As Ginger is on her way to Florida on Monday for a dragon boat race in Sarasota and then to San Francisco on family business, anyone interested in helping perpetuate this grand tradition should contact her husband, Elmer Shoji, are 250-837-4101.
