Loyal volunteers serve elderly citizens Christmas dinner

IOWA CITY-The Optimist Club of Coralville has been volunteering at the Elder Services Christmas Dinner for so long that most of them weren't sure exactly how many years it has been.

“It's a mainstay of Christmas,” said volunteer Henry Herwig.

The volunteers eventually seemed to come to a consensus – it's been about 34 years of Christmas Day volunteering, and some of them haven't missed a single Christmas dinner.

Elder Services and volunteers from the Coralville Optimist Club served several dozen older adults a Christmas Dinner on Saturday.

One family of volunteers included three generations.

Elder Services hosts the meal at the Johnson County Senior Center in Iowa City nearly everyday of the year, but Executive Director Mary Wieman says it's especially important to provide a place for people to gather together on Christmas Day for a hot meal.

“Many of them wouldn't have anywhere else to go,” Wieman said.

Elder Services and the Optimist Club also delivered hot meals to homes around the city.