THE heart of Coffs’ community swelled to support the 2022 Community Christmas Luncheon held on December 25, and hosted for the second year running by Doris and David Rake.

Donations, volunteers and a who’s who of local connections delivered a wonderful, warm and welcoming festive get-together with lunch, entertainment and gifts, all for free, for community members who may have otherwise had a lonely or hungry Christmas Day.

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Ready for action the first team of volunteers arrived at the Cavanbah Centre venue at 8am on Christmas morning with following teams arriving throughout the day to carry out the many tasks pre, during and after the event.

“They ranged from young children with their parents or grandparents who encouraged and supported them, to older adults alone on Christmas Day wanting to make other people’s day memorable,” organiser Doris Rake told News Of The Area.

“Guests arrived at 11.30am and were greeted by my outstanding front door team.”

While the line extended far outside the hall the volunteer children were able to offer pizza and a can of drink while sign-in happened.

Soon the room was full and the buffet was opened to all where Mr Tim Bennett entertained guests with his beautiful voice singing Christmas carols.

“This is where my volunteers shone as they carried out their tasks with kindness and smiles all round, keeping everything running smoothly.”

Bellies were filling as Santa paid a special visit and made himself available for photos in his specially donated chair with a backdrop which consisted of a painting from Jenny Simpson, a special friend of Doris.

“Thank you to the North pole for Santa’s visit,” said Doris.

With Santa enjoying time with everyone, the team was able to pull down the lunch buffet and reset for the delicious dessert.

This is when more volunteers arrived to help with the clean up job and to distribute the vouchers for the attendees, kindly donated by Garry Innes at Good Price Pharmacy through a huge cash donation.

With the festivities over Doris was busy receiving much thanks for hosting this community event.

When she finally broke away from guests she witnessed all the volunteers and some guests pulling together to coordinate all the tasks of pull down and clean up, leaving her with very little to do.

Even the raffles were drawn and sorted thanks to Lauren, Jen and Caroline, the three ladies who ran all the admin tasks on the day.

The raffle prizes were donated and the tickets were sold in local businesses as well as around Coffs.

Thanks go to Coffs Harbour Golf Club, a local resident who donated a mosaic pot, Jetty Theatre, and Farmstead Valley Coffee, voted the best coffee in Coffs Harbour 2022 (Best of Coffs Coast Awards 2022), with Sammy Turtle and team also responsible for the largest number of raffle tickets sold in one place.

Doris and David would like to extend their appreciation to everyone who contributed to this event in any way.

“There are far too many to mention individually,” said Doris.

A special mention goes to Lilly Pilly Early Learning Centre in Coffs Harbour, Rotary Daybreak Collectors Fair, and individuals who made cash donations.

Doris and David are already planning for a bigger and better 2023 Community Christmas Luncheon and are calling upon anyone interested to be a part of the committee to delegate some of the tasks that are growing too large for Doris and David to coordinate by themselves.

If you would like to participate in this wonderful community event please contact Doris via email at dmcowan01@gmail.com.

By Andrea FERRARI