People from all walks of life and all ages come to the dinner, either to eat or to help out. Serving that many meals requires about 100 volunteers, and they come from every church in town. The dinner literally involves practically everyone in the community of 3,800 people. Lawrence Brothers grocery donated the 20 turkeys. Alminice Harrison cooked 16 hams, and countless other individuals and groups donated time, money, paper goods, and food for the dinner.
People always come through.
Everyone involved in the project tells pretty much the same story of how they got hooked on helping. Decker delivered meals the first year he volunteered. Once he stepped into the first house and encountered a lonely person so thankful to have someone to speak to on Christmas Day, Decker was hooked. The Christmas dinner is a family project for the Deckers. After the first year, Decker enlisted the aid of Denson, and since then the two of them have been in charge of making the dressing and keeping the kitchen in order.