Last Saturday, 600 dinners were distributed to families by mayors and city council members at Tabitha’s Spanish Fork food pantry, and Monday night, an additional 800 meals were handed out to families at the Pleasant Grove food pantry.

The caveat is unlike traditional soup kitchen meals, these ham-and-potatoes dinners are handed out cold and are meant to be warmed up and shared by a family in their own home. This is not to save manpower in the kitchen but is an intentional decision.

Tabitha’s Way Executive Director Wendy Osborne said 15 years ago they would cook hot meals but found that families actually preferred to spend Christmas not in a soup kitchen but in their home surrounded by loved ones.

“It was more of an intimate thing to be able to take a meal home and cook that and have it prepared with your loved ones around you,” she said.

That doesn’t prevent Tabitha’s Way from still placing a community touch on the the whole process, though.

Mayors and city council members from Springville, Mapleton, Spanish Fork, Salem, Payson and Santaquin were in attendance Saturday to greet neighbors from their communities and hand them the food. During Monday’s event in Pleasant Grove, which occurred following the Daily Herald’s print deadline, Sen. Mike Curtis, Rep. Mike Kennedy, County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner and mayors from Lindon, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland and Saratoga Springs were scheduled to come.

Tabitha’s Way Pleasant Grove co-founder Mike Carter said they want public officials to have the opportunity to hand dinner out to their constituents.

“They can actually be involved in helping the needy people in the area,” Carter said. “Rather than them going Christmas shopping and doing family things or whatever they really like to to provide community service.”

The service extends to other people in the community.

Tabitha’s Way received $20 donations to purchase the dinners from grocery stores, and Osborne said one school teacher picks up multiple meals herself and delivers them the families of students in need.

“It’s those who are closest to you bringing you a meal and serving you,” Osborne said. “And I find that people who are dealing with crisis, people who are down on their luck, people who are going through a hard time, when somebody shows up at your door with that meal, it just tells them, ‘Hey, you’re not alone. You’re loved and you’re supported. You’re part of our community and you matter. And so it’s just such a beautiful thing in my mind.”

While the Christmas dinners will provide an important boost for over a thousand families, Osborne emphasized that need will continue even after the holidays.

She said that Tabitha’s Way has seen a 30% increase in the number of families needing food assistance. She said people can still give meals through the Giving Machines through the holidays at University Mall in Orem.

“It’s not too late,” she said. “You can donate through those giving machines, and those funds will continue to provide meals to families in our communities.”