Community Christmas dinner serves over 2,000

Andrea Hancock, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·2 min read

Dec. 26—On Monday, the annual Norman Christmas Day Community Dinner provided meals to approximately 2,010 people.

Bob Magarian, the 93-year-old founder of the dinner, said he estimated 1,700 people dined in Norman High School with an additional 310 people fed through home deliveries. The dinner also provided about 450 carryout meals, which Magarian does not count towards the total number of people served, as some are picking up second servings for later.

Attendance was the highest it has been since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even for pre-pandemic years, Magarian said it was a big crowd; The carryout option was so popular, in fact, that Magarian said he will probably design a new layout next year.

"I got to have a new system because they were blocking the paths for people to go back and sit down after they got their meal," Magarian said.

Magarian and his family are at the helm of the dinner, but they have plenty of help. This year's dinner was made possible through the work of 300 different volunteers who cooked, served food, greeted people, made home deliveries and helped children select toys.

"The people of Norman are very loving and caring," Magarian said. "When we call out for help, they're always there."

Magarian started the dinner 37 years ago when he realized no other public Christmas dinner existed in Norman at the time. The dinner has come a long way from its first year, when only 20 guests showed up to dinner at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in the middle of an ice storm.

But through all the changes and upgrades, Magarian's wife, children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren are constants at the dinner, along with many other perennial volunteers who have become close friends with the family.

Setup for the dinner begins a couple days before the dinner, and then the Magarians wake up early on Christmas Day and work into the evening. After the dinner is over, though, the family gets to spend some time relaxing together after their hard work.

"We're trying to get rested up," Magarian said on Tuesday. "By tomorrow, I'll be back to my old self again."