Eganville – A pizza lunch the week before Christmas sounds pretty considering most people will be enjoying a lot of turkey around the Christmas season.

Students and staff at Eganville and District Public School (EDPS) were treated to pizza last Wednesday, courtesy of the Eganville Baptist Church.

Pastor Bruce Richard and congregation members Melissa Vanderwal and Ashley Hartwig donned their Christmas elf hats, wheeling carts filled with pizza boxes to all the classrooms where they were welcomed by excited students.

This marked the second consecutive year the church has sponsored a Christmas pizza lunch. It  was launched as an alternative to the full Christmas dinner the congreation sponsored and hosted in 2018 and 2019 in the gymnasium.

“We’ve been involved with doing something for four years,” Pastor Richard said. “Then COVID hit and we were not able to do anything.

“In lieu of that, last year we started sponsoring pizza,” he added.

In 2020, the church provide shortbread cookies, milk and candy bags to everyone due to COVID regulations.

Pastor Richard said everyone at the church was extremely disappointed when the formal Christmas dinners had to be cancelled two years ago.

“We were very disappointed because it was something everyone in the church was excited about, being able to do something,” he explained. “But most important, the school, the kids, the teachers themselves, they were so excited that we’d do that.

“Some of the kids and teachers had tears because we’d do that for them,” he added. “No one has ever done that for them.”

He knows the dinners they provided would have been the only Christmas meal some of the children would have received.

“Before the dinners started, we gave out turkeys to 10 needy families,” he said. “I approached (former principal Jude Kelley), asking how we could help. That was five years ago.”

He credits another former principal, Michelle Belsher, for suggesting they could reach more families by sponsoring a full dinner, so he took it back to his congregation and they immediately embraced the idea.

“That was a fantastic idea, to go beyond just a few families.”

He understands having to cancel the formal meals due to the health threats.

He credited congregation member Mrs. Vanderwal for coming up with the pizza idea.

“She had talked to the principal about what we could do. The school normally has pizza days throughout the year and the students have to pay for that.

“So we said how about we sponsor it and it’s free to every student and they all get to have some.”

And it’s not just the students who benefit, it’s the staff and the custodians as well. He is very hopeful the church will be able to return to hosting the full Christmas dinner in 2023.

Obviously, the workload is much smaller for the pizzas than for the full dinners and so Pastor Richard was assisted by Mrs. Vanderwal and Mrs. Hartwig on Wednesday.

“Rio cooks the pizza, delivers it and we distribute it to the different rooms.”

George Pezoulas, owner of Rio, said he was very grateful the church involves him in this great show of community support, adding he assists the church with the cost of the preparation of the pizzas.

Pastor Richard said they have received “Thank You” letters from students, staff and even the parents of students acknowledging their generosity.

“Reading those thank you cards in church was just a real blessing,” he remarked.  

He noted in addition to sponsoring the Christmas events at EDPS, the church also sponsors free skating days at the Eganville Community Centre. They also provide ice time for EDPS to use at the local arena for their physical fitness programs.

“This is our way of sharing the Lord’s blessing in the school and they’re getting the pizza at Rio restaurant, and Rio is blessing the community,” he said. “Everybody has gotten involved.”

Kaley McMillan, vice-principal, conveyed thanks on behalf of the school.

“We would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the Eganville Baptist Church for providing a pizza lunch to all of our students,” she said. “The pizza was delicious and we thank you for the community support of our students before the winter break. Miigwetch, merci, thank you!”