Dec 26, 2023 3 min read

Ed Riedmann

Cindy Evans (left) and Sherri Lemley serve up green beans during a free Christmas Day dinner at the Eagles in Waynesburg. The women are among many volunteers who helped cook, serve or deliver meals throughout Greene County.

Dozens of volunteers made sure Christmas Day was merry and bright for residents in Greene County.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles #598 in Waynesburg hosted its annual free Christmas dinner on Monday, inviting anyone in need of a meal to come enjoy time spent with others at their West High Street location, or to have it delivered.

The dinner was started by Graysville resident Chuck Wolfe in 2018 with the help of his wife, their family of nine and other volunteers.

This year, Wolfe said they served over 1,800 meals. The bulk of them – he estimated 1,700 – were delivered to those who needed dinner. This year, cooking started around 1 a.m.

When Wolfe first started the dinner, about 500 people came for meals.

“It grows every year,” he said.

Wolfe, who routinely hosted holiday dinners for his large family, decided to start the meal after his children either moved away or had families of their own. His goal was to make sure that everyone could have a warm meal and good company on Christmas Day.

That blossomed into offering meals at the Eagles, take-out or delivery options across the county.

There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the meal, Wolfe said.

About 50 volunteers – including delivery drivers, servers, shoppers and food preparers – worked to make the meal of ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and other fixings a success.

Throughout the year, a number of fundraisers are held to make the dinner possible.

“It takes a small army to make this happen and that’s what we had,” he said.