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Sharing a Dinner and Fellowship: First Presbyterian Church Continues Tradition of Food and Fellowship With Its 28th Christmas Celebration.

Posted on: Monday, 26 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Michael P. Buffer, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Dec. 26--WILKES-BARRE -- Carolyn Falzone started working at 6 a.m. Christmas Day

"I started on the sweet potatoes. I was the first one in."

She was in charge of cooking in the kitchen at First Presbyterian Church, where meals were prepared for the 28th annual Christmas Together Celebration. By 8 a.m., about 20 volunteers were in the kitchen preparing food.

"I make the gravy," Falzone said. "I am proud of that. My mother taught me."

The tradition of preparing the Christmas meals at First Presbyterian started in 1978 when her mother, Ruth Kohl, volunteered her family to help prepare the meals. Kohl died in 2004, but the family tradition continues.

"We have a lot of family here -- two brothers, five nieces and nephews, a couple of in-laws," Falzone said.

Her mother's photograph was displayed in the kitchen.

While the volunteers in the kitchen cook vegetables and other side dishes, turkeys are cooked at volunteers' homes. The cooked turkeys are taken to the church, where they are carved.

On Sunday, about 100 volunteers were at the church, and more than 100 people showed up to eat dinner at the church.

Church vans picked up some people, said Dave Ritter, a volunteer with the Commission on Economic Opportunity. The organization has been involved in the Christmas Together tradition from its start in 1978.

Volunteers also delivered about 500 meals to people who didn't attend the dinner at the church, Ritter said. The deliveries reached various parts of Luzerne County -- from Dallas to Nanticoke to Pittston.

"One of our themes is to be with friends and family," Ritter said.

Church pastor the Rev. Dr. Robert Zanicky said the dinner is about celebrating Christmas together as a group. "There are people I recognize here every year, who come here to celebrate Christmas together." Volunteers for the dinner include members of other Christian churches and Jewish volunteers, Zanicky said.

"It's all in the true spirit of Christmas, where different denominations believe in caring and giving to others."

Michael P. Buffer, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7230.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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