Community Harvest, a local nonprofit organization, will host the 19th annual Noel Dinner on Friday, Dec. 24. Traditionally, the Noel Dinner is a complimentary Christmas Day dinner for community members to come together and share in delicious food and festive company. This year, due to the spread of COVID-19, the organization is making two significant changes.

The Noel Dinner will be a delivery-only system rather than a gathered meal, and delivering the meals on Christmas Eve day rather than Christmas Day.

While Community Harvest has long relied on many volunteers to plan and hold the Noel Dinner, volunteer opportunities will be strictly limited this year due to the pandemic.

“We miss our volunteers greatly,” said Eva Barnfather, Noel Dinner co-chair, in a Dec. 6 email. “I encourage every Community Harvest volunteer to join us for the Noel Dinner this year by reserving a meal to allow us to say thank you and serve you.”

“Once again we owe a lot to St. Martha’s Church for allowing us to prepare and package our holiday meal at the church,” said Kerry de Bree, Community Harvest executive director, in and email. “Our small volunteer team will be ready to cook and deliver meals to so many of our friends and neighbors who are in need.”

All meal reservations must be made in advance by Friday, Dec. 17. “Once signed up, you will receive a confirmation with more details from one of our volunteers,” said de Bree.

All community members are welcome to reserve complimentary meals by calling 207-967-1911 or visiting communityharvestmaine.org. The delivery of meals will adhere to CDC guidelines for social distancing, sanitizing and other safety measures.

Last year, the Noel Dinner served over 400 people in the greater Kennebunk community. Community Harvest was founded in 1999 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in Kennebunk. The organization focuses on providing food and emergency community assistance for those living in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, and offers all services free of charge.