REDMOND, OR -- Shepherd’s House Ministries plans to host a Christmas dinner at its new Redmond shelter later this month for participants in its low-barrier services. "We’re also opening this Christmas event to the public, for anyone who doesn’t have a place to go for Christmas dinner, or who wants to see our facility or wants to check out our services," says Director of Development Shelly Gibbs. 

The nonprofit is now collecting donations of holiday foods - like potatoes, yams and other fresh vegetables, rolls, butter, ham and pies. "We are wanting to do a beautiful spread that will have appetizers, the main meal and desserts, as well as beverages," says Gibbs, "So those can be donated and dropped off at either location: our new Redmond Center or our regular donation center, which is actually our men’s center, at 1854 NE Division Street."

Volunteers will also distribute gifts of toiletries, socks, gloves and hats to residents, "The community can be a part of that in any capacity, whether they want to volunteer in the kitchen - they want to help serve food, whether they want to partner with us with an in-kind donation or financially."

Gibbs tells KBND News this will be an annual event for the Redmond center, "This is an experiment. We haven’t even been open a month. We’ve never hosted an event in Redmond, so we’re starting with a meal and gifts and seeing how the community responds; seeing how we can best serve this demographic of guests." She adds, "That transition from winter shelter to full-time shelter is a new experience and throughout this time, we’ve discovered the deep need for that. So, we’re wanting to create an event - just like we do for Thanksgiving here in Bend - we are going to be doing an annual Christmas meal every year in Redmond."

Christmas dinner will be served Friday, December 22nd, from 2-4 p.m. at the Redmond shelter on South Highway 97, just north of Veterans Way.