Although it is only their first year, serving Easter dinner at the Dew Drop Inn has become a tradition for the Stam family.
Lydia Stam and her three children volunteered to serve a turkey dinner with all the trimmings at the Dew Drop Inn on Sunday. Stam said her family has always volunteered but it was the first time they came as a family to serve hungry patrons.
Stam said giving back on Easter is going to be an annual activity for them.
“Volunteerism is important to all of us,” Stam said. “We’ve all been very active. (My children) have served at other shelters before but now we’re all old enough and the opportunity is here so we’re all doing it. I think it is critical that we all participate in the community. I think we`ll be here more than just once a year. We’ve committed to once a month.”
Stam’s daughter Emma said she liked volunteering because it was a good family activity to do together.
Dew Drop Inn director Terri Favreau said they expected around 300 people. They prepared the turkey all last week and had enough to meet that large demand. She said more and more people are using the Dew Drop’s services and without it, those people wouldn’t be getting a meal.
“I guarantee a happy Easter with food,” Favreau said. “We want the people to come in and enjoy themselves. The demand has been very high. Our numbers at one time used to be 150 people. Lately it has been anywhere from 175 to 200 people coming in on a daily basis.”
