American Legion Auxiliary 164 aims to reduce food waste while supporting local veterans this holiday season with its inaugural Christmas Leftovers Dinner from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29.
The non-profit organization, 16733 103rd Ave. S. in Yelm, will serve the main course — a dinner highlighted by a Christmas ham donated by Grocery Outlet — and invites guests to bring their favorite leftovers.
American Legion Auxiliary 164 hosts Christmas events every year, but the leftovers approach is the first of its kind. Marie Vilsack, vice president of the American Legion Auxiliary and organizer of the event, came up with the idea.
“Each Christmas dinner we do is a little bit different. I came up with the idea because you have your Christmas dinners and you have people over, but a lot of times there’s a ton of leftovers, and you can only give away so much,” Vilsack said. “I was thinking, why don’t we provide the main course and have our members and other people of the community come and bring their leftovers as the sides, and we can all just dig in and unwind from the holidays?”
American Legion Auxiliary 164 often invites guests to bring their own sides, potluck-style, Vilsack said, but this is the first time it has done a post-Christmas dinner. Guests will also receive a ticket upon entry for a chance to win assorted prizes in a raffle.
All proceeds from the dinner will support local veterans and the community.
“We have veterans who are both within our posts and outside of them that need help,” Vilsack said. “For instance, if they needed help building a porch or they needed transportation, or sometimes if they needed help to get a bill paid, those are the kinds of things that we use our funds to aid the veterans in our community.”
Entry to the dinner costs $7 per person, and Vilsack recommends guests bring lots of food and smiles.
“We expect to have a lot of fun, a lot of food, and just get together and have a good time,” she said.
For more information about American Legion Auxiliary 164 and its events, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/americanlegion164.
