Drumheller students hosting annual Seniors Christmas Dinner

Drumheller grade school students have turned into servers, escorts and entertainers for a day at a free turkey dinner for close to 350 seniors from the town and surrounding area.

Tom Zariski, chair of the Drumheller Seniors Christmas Dinner Committee says the event has run for more than 30 years and involves close to 100 students from the town's three schools, from kindergarten to grade 12.

The younger grade students are responsible for table decorations and place mats.

"The placemats are just a hoot and they make little reindeer decorations and the seniors just love that," he said. "In fact at the end of the meal you'll see seniors folding up these placemats and taking them home, they're so cute."

When the seniors arrive, they're escorted into the Drumheller Community Facility from the parking lot, have their coat checked and given a handmade corsage.

The entertainment is provided by school bands and choirs before their holiday dinner with all the fixings.

"We've had all sorts of comments from the seniors," said Zariski. "Just appreciating the young people of the community and what I tell the young people is when you see these seniors, you have to think of them as not just a gray haired person -- they are a story, right?"

Zariski has been part of this event since the start and says it's never a problem to raise the funds needed to host it.

"Funding comes from various community groups.," he said. "The Town of Drumheller puts in some money, the Rotary Club is kind of a title sponsor of it for that last year and this year and then a lot of the service groups, a lot of the community associations put in money -- so it's probably some of the easiest fundraising I've ever done."

On-site preparations

Junior and senior high school students are responsible for all the on-site preparations and serving the seniors.

Blair Hatch is a grade 12 student who loves Christmas and spreading cheer.

"Well, I personally love Christmas and I think that being able to talk to the seniors is really good for them," she said. "I think for them to get out and talk to the youth, it probably makes them feel happy,  gives them the Christmas spirit, makes them feel joy around the season, sometimes they could feel a little lonely, so I think this really helps bring them together."

This is the first year participating for grade seven students Melody Greene and Quinn Johnson who are eager to make sure the seniors are taken care of.

"Some of them don't have any family and so this is like their like only interaction with family over the holidays," said Greene. "Seniors actually say that their favourite part is getting the person who walks them up, getting to actually talk to them and having a conversation and human interaction during the holidays is their favorite part so we get to kind of be their family for the day."

Pam Earl is one of the many seniors attending. It's her first time being hosted by the students for the holiday dinner.

"It's wonderful," Earl said. "Those kids are so welcoming and warm and they're not the least bit shy and I love getting together with younger kids, they do a very nice job and it's just been wonderful since we walked in the door."

Zariski says bringing the two generations together under one roof for a special holiday event makes the community stronger.

"Students are here to thank the seniors for basically (homesteading) this area," he said.  "So they understand the sacrifice and the perseverance that these seniors went through to build this area, to build a community, to build the province, to build this country."