Couple honored during Mexico parish’s 25th Christmas dinner
Sister Angela made a suggestion, and Tom and Dr. Mary Ellen Mullen made haste to carry it out.
They prepared a Christmas feast to serve to people who were homebound, unemployed, alone, working the holiday shift or otherwise in need of a good meal on the most joyous day of the year.
It became an annual tradition for St. Brendan Parish in Mexico, with the Mullens and a hearty band of volunteers gathering donations, preparing the food and serving it to visitors on Christmas Day and delivering it to homes and workplaces.
Requests for deliveries come from local motels, gas stations, the Audrain Medical Center, the Sheriff’s Department and many people at home.
“People who are working are especially amazed that we would bring them a Christmas dinner,” said Mr. Mullen.
“This is an open dinner,” he emphasized. “Whoever you are, you’re welcome to come and get food.”
Each year, a tight group of volunteers arrives at the kitchen of the parish hall at about 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve to begin preparing the meal.
“We cook all night,” stated Mr. Mullen, a former restaurateur who moved to Mexico in 1975. “We just kind of visit and enjoy each other’s company.”
That includes 16 20-plus-pound turkeys, seven or eight 20-plus-pound boned hams, 150 pounds of potatoes, and copious quantities of dressing and vegetables.
Then, after the 9 a.m. Mass on Christmas, volunteers crowd the gym to start serving and delivering the food.
“Some stay until we shut down. Others come in and spend an hour or two. We’re grateful for all of them,” said Mr. Mullen.
The menu includes turkey or ham “or both,” mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, corn and green beans.
“And dressing,” said Mr. Mullen. “You can’t forget the dressing!”
Each meal comes with a cross-shaped flyer containing a prayer and some basic information about the parish.
They served 150 meals the first year, 565 meals in 2019.
Donations from parishioners, local businesses and friends in the community cover the approximately $1,200 cost of ingredients, bought at a substantial discount from the local Moser’s grocery store.
Mr. Mullen said Christmas is a perfect day for a feast.
“For one, it’s a holy day,” he stated. “Two, it’s a time when families usually gather together. But there are a lot of elderly people who don’t have families. And there are people who are at work that day and wouldn’t normally get a meal, so we make sure they do.”
Seeing the light
Mr. Mullen and Sister Angela Ashby, a Sister of the Living Word who was a pastoral minister and religious education director at the parish in the 1990s, began the St. Brendan Christmas Dinner in 1996.
Mr. Mullen remembers that something didn’t seem right when he was driving around Mexico to look at decorations on Christmas Day of the previous year.
“I kept noticing people walking around like they were lost,” he said. “I started to realize that there wasn’t a single restaurant in Mexico open on Christmas Day. A lot of people simply had no place to go.”
Other people were working at places such as the hospital, police department and ambulance district. Others were at home without the means to pay for dinner. Some didn’t have transportation to go anywhere.
Mr. Mullen saw a need and convinced the parish that the need could be met.
He and Sr. Angela, who is now stationed in Marrero, Louisiana, started calling on their networks of numerous Catholic and non-Catholic contacts in and around the Mexico area.
Pressing ahead
Mr. Mullen is recovering from a stroke and could not be present for the 2020 dinner. He’s been making a good recovery and is eager to be back in the thick of things by the time the 26th Christmas dinner rolls around.
In years past, volunteers have delivered meals as far as Martinsburg, Laddonia, Vandalia, Auxvasse, Centralia and Wellsville.
With 2020 came the 25th annual dinner, restricted to carry-out and delivery within the Mexico city limits, due to the pandemic.
Parishioner Amy Fisher, who coordinated all of the volunteer efforts this time around, was initially concerned about whether COVID would limit the number of people stepping forward.
“Quite the opposite happened!” she said. “Everyone wanted to help and spread the love during a year where so many seemed to be hurting.”
Monetary donations poured in, and she wound up with more volunteers than she knew what to do with.
To help things go smoothly, Ron and Brad Diehl at Dagwood’s made and donated the mashed potatoes, and Randy Barnes and Randy Macintosh at Moser’s Grocery sliced all of the ham.
“It was all truly heartwarming,” said Mrs. Fisher. “My heart was so incredibly full at the community support that was shown that day.”
“Christian love”
Clean-up commenced a little after 3 in the afternoon. Volunteers got the hall back into ship shape and delivered the leftovers to local organizations.
Father Dylan Schrader, pastor of St. Brendan Parish, presented the Mullens a plaque in recognition of their 25 years of service.
“I am so proud of our parish for this work of charity and mercy,” said Fr. Schrader. “Thanks to Tom and Mary Mullen for starting this and leading us for 25 years! Thanks to all who donated and who helped deliver hot meals.”
Parishioner Sara Jane Duffner commented that evening on a social media post touting the dinner’s success.
“Our parish community really modeled Christian love and caring,” she stated online. “Thanks for all you do!”
“I’m very proud of our parish and all the volunteers who made this happen,” said parishioner Alice Leonatti. “We live in a special community.”
Mr. Mullen said he finds himself repeatedly awestruck by the number and quality of the volunteers who make each St. Brendan Christmas Dinner a success.
“The people who volunteer and the people who donate — they’re who make this work every year,” he said. “They’re the backbone of this, and they come from all over.”
He believes they realize they’re part of something important, even holy.
“The Lord took care of everybody,” he said. “Shouldn’t we try to be like Him?”
