{"id":4,"date":"2013-10-19T13:35:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-19T17:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perthchristmasdinnerassociation.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2025-10-08T16:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:30:03","slug":"our-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/?page_id=4","title":{"rendered":"Our History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

1985 was the birth of the “Christian Academy and Ministries” a\u00a0 group of enthusiastic, charitable people who, as part of their outreach to the\u00a0 community, held a free Christmas Dinner for individuals who might find themselves\u00a0 in need of a friendly face and\/or a wholesome meal on Christmas Day.\u00a0 The first dinner was held in McMartin\u00a0 House, but as the attendance was more than expected, it was decided that the\u00a0 following year the dinner would be held in the larger Farrell Hall.\u00a0 Farrell Hall became the place where the\u00a0 dinner would be held for the next 21 years.\u00a0 In this time the\u00a0 attendance grew to more than 150 including meals delivered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the\u00a0 first eleven years meals were served to individuals as they remained\u00a0seated.\u00a0 At the\u00a0 beginning, the Christmas meal was entitled “Loving and Giving” .\u00a0 In 1996 an eager, local\u00a0 gardener presented a very large hubbard squash and, as the sight of this 40 lb\u00a0 squash was rather appealing, the style of serving was changed to buffet style so the\u00a0 squash could be seen as it was served out of its shell.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, it was felt\u00a0 appropriate to call the event the “Perth Community Christmas Dinner”. <\/strong>In 2007 the Christmas Dinner was held just once at the\u00a0 Factory Grind in the old Brown Shoe Building.\u00a0 In 2008 it was moved to the Code’s\u00a0Mill Building where the dinner\u00a0has been served for many years. <\/strong>In 2012\u00a0 the dinner was\u00a0renamed the “Perth Community Christmas Day Dinner” and the serving style\u00a0reverted back to\u00a0service directly on the plate as it is expected there will be less waste using\u00a0 this method.\u00a0<\/strong>In 2013, the committee responsible for the annual Community Christmas Day Dinner formalized its organization and is now known as the <\/strong>Perth Christmas Dinner Association<\/em><\/strong>. The Perth\u00a0 Community Christmas Day Dinner event continues to be operated by volunteers with\u00a0financial and food support from local businesses and the community, and although those who fund, organize and attend the event may change from year to year the mission remains the same:\u00a0 to invite\u00a0everyone in the Perth community to enjoy a wholesome, free Christmas meal on Christmas day and to welcome one and all as very special guests. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regrettably, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that we were unable to hold the event in 2020 and 2021. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022 we were able to resume our dinner at Code’s Mill with over 250 guests sitting down for dinner, and 140 meals delivered. Meals were served buffet style.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023 we held our dinner in a new location. We were supported by the Perth Lion’s Club and the dinner was be held at the Lions’ Hall, Perth Fairgrounds (50 Arthur Street).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024 we are returning to Code’s Mill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1985 was the birth of the “Christian Academy and Ministries” a\u00a0 group of enthusiastic, charitable people who, as part of their outreach to the\u00a0 community, held a free Christmas Dinner for individuals who might find themselves\u00a0 in need of a friendly face and\/or a wholesome meal on Christmas Day.\u00a0 The first dinner was held in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":607,"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4\/revisions\/607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perthcommunitychristmasdaydinner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}