Local nonprofit hosts 10th annual free holiday party and community meal with gifts and food for all; more volunteers and donations needed

By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news

Organizers expect more than 100 Ashlanders to gather for the 10th annual free holiday party and feast from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, at First Presbyterian Church of Ashland. Local nonprofit Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice (SOJWJ) will host with the help of co-sponsors Ashland Red Lions Club and the Mountain Meadows Community Foundation. 

For 10 years, Almeda Fire survivors and SOJWJ organizers Vanessa and Jason Houk have coordinated a “Holiday Peace Meal,” a party and feast for the Ashland community every December (and Thanksgiving) to ensure anyone who might otherwise go without can experience the holidays. 

“It provides a sense of family,” Vanessa Houk said in a phone call to Ashland.news. “This is such a lonely time of the year for people, especially if you don’t have much or any family left.” 

Vanessa Houk has heard from Ashlanders that the holiday community meals “give them something they’ve never had before,” she continued, “that sense of belonging, love and a place where everybody is accepted just as they are.” 

This Saturday’s holiday dinner will be served at 1 p.m. The meal features donated dishes — like green bean casserole, turkey, gluten-free lasagna and home-baked goods — along with plates prepared by cooks that morning. 

Among Christmas carols and holiday music, attendees will walk through multiple “giving tables” abundant with donated, unwrapped gifts to “shop” around and choose what they’d like. Vanessa Houk said, “Nothing’s wrapped up because we want to make sure people get what they need, what they want and what they will use.” 

She also mentioned that those in need are struggling more than past years, calling on the community to consider donating items to the holiday party and help her put this event together. Desired items (used items are welcome) include winter sleeping bags, tents, warm winter clothing, backpacks, athletic shoes, boots and blankets. Items like small flashlights, batteries, tarps, hand warmers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, first aid supplies, hairbrushes, dog food, packaged snack foods, feminine hygiene products and travel-sized hygiene products are also appreciated. Houk also pointed out other potential gifts like small games, art supplies and children’s toys.

SOJWJ has a goal of acquiring 150 gift cards for $10 at grocery stores, coffee shops, gas stations, fast food restaurants and other local places to give to those in need. Vanessa Houk said she needs 96 more gift cards in a phone call with Ashland.news on Dec. 16. She said, “If we wind up having any leftover, in January, our coldest days, I watch for people that need an hour inside somewhere and then I give them the $10 card.” 

The Holiday Peace Meal typically requires around 40 volunteers, according to the Houks. Volunteers are also still needed this Saturday to decorate, cook, serve food and host cookie and beverage tables as well as clean up. 

An annual tradition born out of a weekly act 

The origin of the Holiday Peace Meal lies in the Ashland Community Peace Meal — community meals at 3:30 p.m. every Thursday and Friday at the Lithia Park gazebo for anyone hungry. Founded by the Houks with help from dozens of other volunteers, the Peace Meal was formed after recognizing unhoused and low-income neighbors were hungry from mounting food thefts showing up in municipal court. 

The free weekly hot food offered to the community extended to the annual Thanksgiving Peace Meals and Holiday Peace Meals in December starting in 2015. The Houks continued to drive around town to deliver meals and gifts in 2020 during the pandemic, which also resulted in a few outdoor holiday parties. 

“There are a lot of things in this world that we can’t really do anything about,” Vanessa Houk said, “but we can sure feed people.” 

The holiday meal last year saw nearly 200 people while the Thanksgiving meal this year provided meals for 300 Ashlanders, as previously reported by Ashland.news. Jason Houk shared with Ashland.news over the phone that SOJWJ sets aside $3,000 each year to ensure the Ashland community can experience both a Thanksgiving and a December holiday. 

On Thursday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day, the Houks and other volunteers will serve their community Peace Meal at the Lithia Park gazebo at 3:30 p.m., regardless of weather. 

This Saturday, Vanessa Houk said, “If people want to be there, we absolutely want them there. There’s no particular income level. There’s no pressure to donate; that’s not what the party’s about. The party will be about celebrating the community and just being together.”

For more information: 

To volunteer or donate for this Saturday’s Holiday Peace Meal and check the list of opening roles and available/needed food, visit this website. Donations can also be dropped off at a drop off box inside Pony Espresso at 175 Lithia Way. For more information, call event co-organizer Jason Houk at 541-841-8341 or email jason@sojwj.org. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Sydney Seymour at sydneyseymourr@gmail.com.

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