Bartlesville Friends In Deed Volunteers Feed Community

Dozens in Bartlesville spent their Christmas Day serving others. An organization called Friends In Deed held its annual Christmas Community Dinner at the Adams Boulevard Church of Christ.

Good tunes, yummy food and strangers spreading the holiday cheer.

David and Rhonda Barnes say they wouldn't have been able to feed their family without this Christmas community dinner.

"It's a real blessing that they have this," said David Barnes.

"It allowed us to provide the big dinner for the family without having to come out of pocket. That was really handy."

It's a dinner with all the trimmings - turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.

Rita Marshall Beavers is one of the head chefs.

"We cooked everything, but the turkeys in the oven this morning. We prepared dressing yesterday. We did mashed potatoes and all the rest. We just set it up as we do it," said Rita Marshall Beavers, volunteer.

She says there's nothing better than bringing a smile to peoples' faces.

"This is something I love to do. I love serving people and that's something I love to do," she said.

There's musical entertainment from a church choir.

"I enjoy doing it because I love the Lord, and I just want to share what the reason is for Christmas," said volunteer Drena Goree.

And after a long night of passing out gifts, Santa makes one last trip here to visit the kiddos.

"It's a blessing all together," said Rhonda Barnes. "We share it with others as well, going through the same thing.

"The camaraderie and everything. It's nice," said David Barnes.

"Yeah it is. That's what it comes down to," Rhonda agreed.

A lot of planning went into this dinner. The director says they started organizing the event about six months ago.

"It's a sad thing that on Christmas Day, somebody is home alone and not able to enjoy the companionship of someone, so we just felt, hey, why not have this event," said organizer George Halkiades.

The organization also delivered meals to people who were not physically able to come to the dinner.