Dub Craig and Richard Knott speaking on Moose FM. (Energeticcity.ca)
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A new Christmas dinner has been arranged for this month to help community seniors.
Seniors Christmas Dinner organizer Richard Knott sat down with Dub on Moose FM on Tuesday, December 3rd to discuss the upcoming dinner and tell the story of how it came to be.
“The whole idea is to let the seniors feel loved and not lonely,” said Knott.
Knott has been an active volunteer in Fort St. John for almost a decade, starting when his daughter asked him to help a mother and her family in need.
He says he raised between $3,000 to $3,500 for the family.
From there, the organization grew to help more and more families through fundraisers from local community businesses.
Knott would approach businesses for $200 to $500 donations.
By 2023, Knott was helping 37 families in need, with support from several local businesses such as Gas Link, Bizzybody, Dawson Road Maintenance, and more.
Knott said he hadn’t planned to do anything this year because he was ” burnt out” and lacked volunteers.
He then received a call from John Seaward from Dawson Road Maintenance. He helped one of the families last year and wanted to arrange the senior’s dinner.
There will be two dinners on Christmas Day at Ming’s Kitchen.
“We want to do things so they are not left alone,” said Knott.
The first dinner will be at 1 p.m. and the other at 5 p.m.
Volunteers are still needed to help with the event, such as cooking turkeys and other foods, preparing plates, and collecting donations like fuel cards.
Anyone interested in volunteering can RSVP by calling Richard Knott at 250-262-9322 or John Seaward at 778-667-0068.