By Erika Chorostil

Community Dinners Return

Drayton Valley Community Dinners Coming Back

Dec 19, 2019 | 2:25 PM

A popular monthly tradition will be returning for another year in Drayton Valley.

The Community Dinners, which were set to end this month, will be starting up again in the New Year thanks to an initiative by the Drayton Valley Community Foundation to bring them back.

Originally started in 2017 by Drayton Valley Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), the meals are sponsored by local businesses and agencies and put on by volunteers. The pay-what-you-can or nothing at all dinners were meant to bring people together, and they did; the last dinner held on December 3 had over 500 people attend.

Due to the amount of work the dinners take, FCSS decided this Fall not to take on the meals for another year.

Upon hearing the news, President of the Drayton Valley Community Foundation, Rob Mulligan thought the popular community gatherings should continue and decided to take on the project with the Foundation.

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“We decided to figure out all those obstacles and find a way to make it so it can continue on,” says Mulligan, adding that the Foundation would continue to utilize local companies to help sponsor or donate food for the dinners each month.

The Community Foundation is a non-profit organization now in its 25th year of operation. The Foundation invests donated funds and grants out of the interest they collect to local groups in the community. In the past 5 years, the Drayton Valley Community Foundation has granted out more than $500,000 to local community groups including but not limited to Drayton Valley Minor Hockey, Drayton Valley Minor Baseball, the EPAC Centre, The Blue and Gold Society, and Eagle Points Blue Rapids.

Mulligan says the sense of community and the importance of everyone getting together was a large reason for him wanting to become involved in making the dinners continue.

“It’s such a great thing for the community that encourages positivity and a sense of giving. Every demographic, every tax bracket in the community coming together and sharing a meal I think is huge,” Mulligan said. “When everyone pulls together to share that experience, I think it speaks a lot to what Drayton Valley is about.”

The dinners will continue to be held at the Mackenzie Conference Centre on the third Tuesday of every month, starting on January 21, 2020.