COVINGTON, Ky. — The Sunday Morning Club hosted its 37th annual Christmas dinner inviting families, the unhoused and or anyone in need of Christmas spirit. 

The celebration, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, featured a menu of turkey, corn, sweet potatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls and desserts of cookie and cake donated by McHale’s Events and Catering. However, organizers stressed that the gathering was about more than the meal. 

“Christmas Day is for everybody,” said Tom Hall Vice President of the Sunday Morning Club. He said, "Being able to make people happy makes us happy."

This year’s dinner was dedicated to two longtime volunteers, Dennis “Smokey” Hatfield, a retired Covington Police detective and Pat Iasillo, who both passed away earlier this year. 

The event had about 400 volunteers who worked to make the event special, serving meals, distributing gifts, and even dressing up as Santa Claus for family photos. 

Volunteer David Baker said events like this are the perfect way to spend the holiday.

“It’s just the best possible day to do things for other people to give back to the community,” Baker said. “There were kids all the way up and down Madison Avenue who were pushing bikes home, and I just thought that was so cool,” he said. 

For many families in attendance, the dinner is more than a meal. Mother of nine, Felicia Radcliff, a guest at the event, expressed her happiness for events like this as she looked at her children enjoying their gifts. 

“Some kids can’t afford a lot of the gifts that are given out here,” she said. “I couldn’t afford to get seven bikes for my kids, and here I was able to give my kids seven bikes, and that’s really it made me happy.”

Hall stressed that the success of the event wouldn’t be possible without the work of the volunteers. “We appreciate the ones that came out. And you said we couldn’t do it without you,” he said.