{"id":15167,"date":"2025-12-19T16:47:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T23:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-communitys-hard-work-makes-annual-cortez-christmas-dinner-possible\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:45:16","slug":"the-communitys-hard-work-makes-annual-cortez-christmas-dinner-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-communitys-hard-work-makes-annual-cortez-christmas-dinner-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"The community\u2019s hard work makes annual Cortez Christmas dinner possible"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Volunteers
Volunteers and community members at the Cortez Community Christmas dinner on Christmas Day. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The annual Cortez Community Christmas Dinner will return Christmas Day from noon to 2 p.m. at the Montezuma County Annex, offering dine-in, takeout and delivery options for residents in Cortez, Dolores and Mancos.<\/p>\n

Organizers expect to serve about 400 meals \u2013 the result of months of coordination by volunteers.<\/p>\n

As much as it is a transition year, those efforts are keeping the 30-plus-year tradition alive. Funding included $7,000 raised by one volunteer going door-to-door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have an organization that\u2019s manning this. It\u2019s truly a community effort this year, which is really beautiful,\u201d said Mary Jo Standard, one of the dinner organizers. \u201cPeople have absolutely been stepping up to the plate and been really supportive of the transition year.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year brought a perfect storm: Many longtime organizers are out of town, and the event\u2019s head chef of the past five years died this summer, leaving a gap in institutional knowledge. With local food insecurity growing, new volunteers from First United Methodist Church and others stepped in quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a call to action, essentially, to how can we make sure we still have this. It\u2019s been really challenging for so many people, we have to have that,\u201d Standard said.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI mean, one of our greatest concerns was how do we find somebody to run the kitchen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Randy Lewis, who runs Lunch Lady Catering, will serve as head chef, preparing ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans and pie.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe stepped up to the plate and was like, \u2018Yes, I can cook Christmas Day for 400 people, which was huge,\u201d Standard said.<\/p>\n

Anyone is welcome to dine in. For delivery, residents in Cortez, Dolores and Mancos may schedule by calling 703-638-0229 until 8 p.m. Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

Takeout will be available throughout the full two-hour service window.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the full two hours,\u201d Standard said. \u201cWe have to-go boxes for all of it. So, if people want a family meal, they can come grab a meal for the whole family and go back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standard said the volunteer response has also been strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really had a huge turnout in volunteers,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I say it\u2019s a community-led event this year, it completely is.\u201d<\/p>\n

While volunteer slots are mostly filled, organizers are still seeking pie donations and monetary contributions. About 50 pies are needed and may be dropped off at the annex until noon Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor food safety reasons, we can only take fruit pies,\u201d Standard said. \u201cPumpkin pie does not count as a fruit pie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Christmas meal has been a long-standing tradition in the community for more than three decades. First United Methodist Church took over organizing the meal in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially offering takeout-only service.<\/p>\n

Standard said local organizations, including Hope\u2019s Kitchen and Grace\u2019s Kitchen, have also provided guidance and support during planning.<\/p>\n

For anyone wanting to make a monetary donation, please see the Onward! A Legacy Foundation donation portal: https:\/\/onwardfdn.fcsuite.com\/erp\/donate\/create\/fund?funit_id=1017<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

volunteer raised $7,000 door-to-door<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19515,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15167\/revisions\/19515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15167"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}