Feasting on Goodwill in Conejo Valley

Five years ago, Donn Delson had a vision--one that has led to Christmas dinner for thousands.

Delson, a member of Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks, was dining with his mother at a Northern California restaurant when they saw a sign inviting patrons back for a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner.

That spurred a discussion about appreciation and giving back and sparked the vision--about how nice it would be for Delson and his Jewish friends to provide a free dinner for Conejo Valley Christians who had no place to go on Christmas Day.

That first year, in 1994, he bought much of the food himself and with cash donations he solicited from others. He also recruited friends from Adat Elohim, Etz Chaim and Beth Haverim to bring dishes and desserts from their own kitchens.

“Donn’s enthusiasm is beyond contagious,” said head cook Margaret Pollack.

For his part, Delson sees the dinner as a holiday present.

“Christmas is not our holiday,” Delson said. “It is a great gift we give to our Christian community members.”

About 200 people showed up that first year for dinner, held in the cafeteria at Thousand Oaks High School.

Each year since, the fete has gotten bigger and more established. About 350 are expected at today’s celebration, which will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at the high school.

Traci Rogers, for one, is looking forward to the event.

“I feel very forgotten a lot of the time,” said Rogers, a 31-year-old Thousand Oaks resident. “I don’t have a lot of connections.”

She has not missed one of Delson’s Conejo Community Dinners on Christmas Day, she said.

“I like how they make me feel so important and like I am somebody,” Rogers said. “When I go, they set me at a table and I’m not alone.”

Rose Della Rosa, 82, and husband Domenic, 80, also have gone to every dinner since the tradition began.

The Thousand Oaks residents have family and friends all around the country but would spend Christmas Day alone if it were not for Delson and his dinner, Rose Della Rosa said.

“I’m so glad we have such a special place to go,” she said. “I like being with people. Sharing the day with others makes it really feel like Christmas.”

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Other participants might include whole families with small children, missing their extended family and looking for surrogate grandmas and grandpas.

Or teens escaping dysfunctional families might find sanctuary.

Police officers, firefighters and hospital personnel working the holiday have been known to drop by for a dose of holiday fun and a hearty meal.

At the dinner, various musical groups drop by and sing. Otherwise there is Christmas music playing and people often get up and dance.

Delson, 50, is quick to point out that even though the event started as a gift from the Jewish community to Christians, it has become ecumenical. Everyone in the community is invited, and members of various religions have joined in providing volunteers and donations to sustain the yearly dinner.

Among the Christians who have contributed to the dinner are Debbie Heaslip and her family, who provide decorations.

Each year, the Moorpark teacher and her children, Tricia, 26, Brent, 23, Brandon, 19, and Miranda, 16, have come up with a theme and spent more than 100 hours and about $500 to turn the school cafeteria into a holiday wonderland.

This year, the theme is Y2K. They will cover the walls, ceiling and everywhere else with hand-painted, glittering angels, doves and candles along with a 6-foot picture of a globe that took 30 hours to paint.

Although the family has put forth much effort to make sure those who attend the dinner find themselves in a beautiful place, none have ever attended the dinner.

“We turn that part over to the other volunteers,” said Heaslip, 46. “We spend Christmas Day together with our family at home.”

One of those she passes the baton to is Pollack, a Realtor who has been the head cook every year since the event began.

“The Christians do the upfront work like decorations and then the Jewish people take over,” said Pollack, a Westlake Village resident.

She gets there early Christmas morning and starts sauteing bell peppers and onions to add flavor to the stuffing. Before long, she and a helper are in the kitchen making enough mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and turkey to feed up to 350 people.

The already cooked turkey breasts, donated by Larry Vad at Ideal Meat Co. in Northridge, need to be carved. Desserts donated by Costco have to be sliced.

There are plenty of volunteers to serve the dinners, greet the guests and even wash the dishes. In fact, Delson never turns guests away, but he sometimes has had to disappoint those willing to serve.

“We’ve volunteered every year but one, when we didn’t sign up in time and they didn’t have a place for us,” Anita Goldman recalled.

The Westlake Village resident, her husband and daughter made sure that never happened again.

“You’re supposed to call right after Thanksgiving to sign up,” Goldman said. “This year I called before Thanksgiving to make sure we got an assignment.”

It doesn’t matter what they are asked to do, as long as they are able to contribute. In the past her husband, Ron, has stood outside on school grounds and directed guests to the cafeteria, while Anita and her 25-year-old daughter, Amanda, served dinner and dessert.

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Teenagers are given the task of making sure that everyone gets all the food they want and plenty of good conversation.

“They assign the young people to go and get food for those who might be unable to get it for themselves and to make sure everyone has a companion,” Goldman said.

Thousand Oaks Cab Co. offers free transportation to and from the dinner and Laidlaw Transportation will provide round-trip rides for 60 seniors from Leisure Village in Camarillo, Delson said.

Every year there are more guests. There is also more need for food and cash donations, which can be made to the nonprofit Conejo Community Dinner.

And then there are the volunteers, most of whom have served before.

This makes for familiar faces among guests and volunteers looking forward to seeing those friends they talked to or danced with in years past.

“They put a lot of heart into it,” Rogers said. “If you’re alone, they’ll assign you a buddy. The whole community comes out, and I like getting to be a part of it.”