EVANSDALE — A Christmas tradition is benefiting a family left without a home following a fire.
Proceeds are also going to other community projects in the area.
Fire damaged a home at 240 Feldt Ave., Evansdale, on Jan. 13.
Jeff Reinitz
“My mother always said no one should be home alone on Christmas day,” said Karen Cole.
Her mother, Rita Cummings, had sponsored a Christmas dinner at her restaurant, Red’s Diner on Lafayette Road, starting a dozen years ago.
Cummings
This year, the dinner raised $2,500 in free-will donations.
Cole said the money will be put toward a family of nine whose Feldt Avenue home was gutted by fire on Jan. 13. Cole is related to the family.
Volunteers at the Evansdale AMVETS post for the 2017 Christmas dinner were, from left, Dave Cummings, Pat Cummings-Jones, Ron Cummings, Rita Cummings and Pete Weber.
COURIER FILE PHOTO
Funds will also go to Evansdale Fire Rescue, the city of Evansdale for holiday decorations and a Grout Museum project to refurbish a United States flag believed to be the first American flag brought into the European theater during World War II by the Waterloo-based 133rd Infantry Regiment.
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Rita Cummings, a longtime restaurant worker, opened Red’s in 2012 at age 77. She and her oldest daughter, Patricia “Pat” Cummings Jones, set up the first free Christmas dinner that year.
Rita Cummings, left, and her daughter Pat Jones, right, peel potatoes at Red’s Diner Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa. Rita and her daughter are going to open up the diner and provide free Christmas dinners. (MATTHEW PUTNEY / Courier Photo Editor)
MATTHEW PUTNEY
When Red’s closed in 2014, the dinner was moved to the AMVETs hall, Cole said. Retired Evandale Fire Chief Pete Weber and his wife, Lois, carried the torch for Cummings and Jones.
Cummings died in 2021, and Jones passed away in 2020.
Jones
The 2024 Community Christmas Dinner was at the Moose Lodge in Washburn. Cole said about 400 to 500 people were served through dine-in and carry-out.
Rita Cummings, 78, has started Red’s Diner in May of this year, photographed Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa. Rita and her daughter are going to open up the diner and provide free Christmas dinners. (MATTHEW PUTNEY / Courier Photo Editor)
MATTHEW PUTNEY
Red’s Christmas Dinner over the years
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Rita Cummings, 78, has started Red’s Diner in May of this year, photographed Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa. Rita and her daughter are going to open up the diner and provide free Christmas dinners. (MATTHEW PUTNEY / Courier Photo Editor)
MATTHEW PUTNEY
121112mp-Reds-Diner-1
Rita Cummings, left, and her daughter Pat Jones, right, peel potatoes at Red’s Diner Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, in Evansdale, Iowa. Rita and her daughter are going to open up the diner and provide free Christmas dinners. (MATTHEW PUTNEY / Courier Photo Editor)
MATTHEW PUTNEY
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From left, Harry Sauser, Pat Jones, Pete Weber, Rita Cummings, Ronnie Cummings and Carol Finger are putting on a free Christmas dinner at the Evansdale AMVETS.
Brandon Pollock
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Volunteers at the Evansdale AMVETS post for the 2017 Christmas dinner were, from left, Dave Cummings, Pat Cummings-Jones, Ron Cummings, Rita Cummings and Pete Weber.
COURIER FILE PHOTO
Rita Cummings
Cummings
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