3 Temples Join Forces to Capture Holiday Spirit : Thousand Oaks: Area couple is galvanizing the community to organize a Christmas Day dinner for the needy and lonely.

Amid the noise and the exhaust of a traffic jam last month, Donn and Joyce Delson caught the holiday spirit like never before.

How about marshaling the resources of the three Jewish congregations in the Conejo Valley to put on a free Christmas Day dinner in Thousand Oaks for 2,500 or more people who are needy or simply lonely?

The idea burst to life like a fireplace on a winter’s eve.

Throughout the Thousands Oaks area--at temples and churches, businesses and schools--the genius and the generosity of the Delsons have kindled a spirit of brotherhood that has bound Christian and Jew, young and old, in a campaign to give.

“That’s kind of our catch-phrase,” said Joyce Delson, 46, a member of Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks, “because so many . . . have so much, in terms of family relationships, religion, financial security and safe environments. We want to give something back.”

The Conejo Community Holiday Dinner, the first of its kind in Thousand Oaks, is expected to be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 25 in the cafeteria at Thousand Oaks High School, space donated by the Conejo Valley Unified School District. Delson said all who seek comfort and camaraderie are invited.

Three temples--Adat Elohim and Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks and Beth Haverim in Agoura Hills--will coordinate the event, with the Delsons’ leadership, and expect to provide the bulk of the volunteers who will serve and cook the food. The Delsons met at their Agoura Hills home with representatives of the temples Monday night to coordinate the massive dinner, which they speculate could draw as many as 3,000 people or as few as 300.

“Since this is predominantly a Christian holiday, we thought it would be wonderful if the Jewish community would come together and participate,” said Donn Delson, 46, a member of Temple Adat Elohim since 1979, and president of a Westlake Village manufacturing and marketing firm.

Rabbi Alan Greenbaum, whose temple incurred more than $25,000 in damages from an arson fire in 1991, said this is one way the 400 families in the congregation can repay the Christian community for its outpouring of support in rebuilding a section of the burned temple roof.

“There’s a saying that comes from the Talmud, ‘Do not remove yourself from the community,’ ” Greenbaum said, “which is to say we see ourselves as an active part of the Jewish and Christian community.”

Delson, who volunteered at a soup kitchen for the homeless in Los Angeles a couple of years ago, said, “The most amazing thing to me is how absolutely enthusiastic and how excited people are to participate in this. . . . I believe that this is a wonderful way to build community esprit de corps.”

Student volunteers from the three area high schools, kindergartners, school district personnel, members of local churches, the Chamber of Commerce, the city of Thousand Oaks and Jewish youth groups all are expected to help, Joyce Delson said.

She said donations may be mailed to the Conejo Community Holiday Dinner, c/o Los Robles Bank, 33 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 91360.

“We might have to limit the number who are helping us, which sounds like a wonderful problem,” she added.

“In my opinion, one of the greatest joys of giving is how good it makes you feel,” said Donn Delson, who hatched the Christmas dinner idea while lunching with his mother, Lora Delson, near San Francisco the week before Thanksgiving.

After learning that the restaurateur serves free Thanksgiving meals to about 1,000 needy people each year, Delson mulled over the idea and then shared it with his wife while they were en route to an inn in Sonoma County.

“We were stuck in traffic so we had a few hours to talk, and then we got excited,” said Joyce Delson, a librarian at Westlake High School.

Later, amid the redwoods and over dinner, the idea jelled and an enthusiastic Donn Delson later brought up his plan to Richard W. Simpson, assistant superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

The school district not only offered the high school cafeteria, but also set up a plan whereby employees can donate part of their paychecks to cover the utility costs for the dinner.

“We feel that any time we reach out to the less fortunate in the community, that’s great,” Simpson said.