Community Dinners Going Strong

Helen and Candy

We are well into our third year of Community Dinner events in Bayfield! Held once a month, these events are intended to be times when Pine River Valley residents can come together, enjoy spending time with each other, sample delicious food and watch kids play. We usually have an activity kids or families can do, such as making first aid kits or choosing and wrapping a holiday gift.

Candy and her mom, Helen, come to almost every Community Dinner. 40-year Bayfield residents, they enjoy the camaraderie and opportunity to socialize with their friends.

Elia spreads peanut butter

Sometimes even critters get fed when we gather for dinner in Bayfield. Recently we received a wonderful donation of high end cat food and dog treats, courtesy of the very kind people at Valley Feed & Ranch Supply in Gem Village. We shared with our dinner guests, of course! Pine River Valley cats and dogs will love having these extra special goodies.

At that same dinner, we set up stations for kids to make pine cone bird feeders. First, they tied string to the base of a pine cone. Next came the (somewhat messy) application of peanut butter. Then, they rolled the cones in tubs filled with bird seed and carefully lowered the finished feeder into a paper bag for the trip home. The youngsters caught on right away and had so much fun!

We held one Community Dinner in Ignacio last fall and shared with nearly 400 people. We would like to have dinners more regularly in Ignacio and other Pine River Valley towns, and we need local people to help out. We can handle the food and the outreach activities — what we can’t do by ourselves is supply all the people power. If you would like to step up to serve your community, contact us.

Volunteers are always welcome to assist with any Community Dinner. You could choose to help set up, cook, serve, clean up or manage the evening’s activity.

We also need people to help with transportation and other related tasks. One thing we like to do at these events is have “gleaning tables” where people can give or take useful items. We often exchange gently used clothing, we usually have some food to share, and sometimes toys and other items. Volunteers to help transport items to share and set up the tables would be especially welcome.

To find out when our next dinner is, check out the calendar. If you have questions or would like to volunteer, call us at 970-884-4747.