It was a matter of minutes before Starkville firefighters were scheduled to eat Christmas dinner Wednesday evening at Fire Station 1 downtown.
Then a call sent several of the firefighters on duty scrambling to a business on Highway 12 not knowing what exactly awaited them or when they would return.
“We passed them going out as we were coming in,” said Lisa Ervin, one of the community volunteers bringing holiday food to the firefighters.
Once the food arrived — complete with all the traditional trimmings of ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, desserts and so much more — one thing was “abundantly” clear. Whenever the deployed fire crew returned, there would be plenty of food left, even after some of the other firefighters eating at the station had picked it over.
“All I know is it’s going to be good,” said firefighter Chance Cummings as the volunteers arrived with the food. “It always is.”
The “Almost Like Home” Christmas dinner has become a tradition for Starkville firefighters on duty Christmas Day, as they have gathered at Fire Station 1 to dine together each of the past eight years. A once fledgling group of community volunteers has grown to more than 300 who provided food Wednesday to SFD, Starkville Police Department, Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi State University Police Department and OCH Regional Medical Center.
For Cummings, a Station 4 firefighter who has worked on Christmas Day eight of his 10 years with the department, the meal hits the heart of what the volunteers hope to accomplish with the gesture.
Starkville firefighters work ever third day, meaning they live at the station for 24 straight hours on duty then get the next 48 off. This year and next, because of the way the calendar falls, Cummings will work Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
“Santa Claus came to our house on Christmas Eve,” said Cummings, who is married with two children, ages 4 and 1. “So many volunteers take time to show they are thinking of us with this meal. I’ve worked in other communities and Starkville, by far, well, they take care of their people.”
Over at OCSO, Sgt. Angela Brown, a jailer, was eying the spread that had just been delivered there.
There was no big crowd lined up. Since the five deputies on shift were out in the field and other jail employees were tending to their tasks, their eating arrangement was more “catch as catch can.”
“It’s here, and everybody has a fair chance at getting what they want,” Brown said.
A 20-year veteran of OCSO, Brown has no children. By volunteering to work most Thanksgivings and Christmases, at least one more coworker with children can spend those days at home.
But especially on those days at work, she said, it’s nice to be remembered.
“There are a lot of people in Starkville who think about the sheriff’s department and other first responders, especially on Christmas,” Brown said. “It means a lot to us.”
‘I’ll probably do this until I die’
At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Lisa McReynolds met her group of “runners” — volunteers like Ervin who deliver food to first responders — in the parking lot in front of the Palmer Home Thrift Store on Highway 12. Fifteen minutes later, the food began to arrive from individuals, church groups and civic organizations.
Lisa McReynolds is hyper-focused on making this organized chaos work. It does, as all the food is delivered by 4 or shortly thereafter and another year of what’s become a well-oiled community machine is in the books.
Not bad, McReynolds said, for an annual effort organized almost exclusively on Facebook.
“I’ve never met a lot of the people who help with this,” McReynolds said. “I just post an all-call on Facebook the day after Thanksgiving and people respond with what they can bring. They’re just as crazy as I am, I guess. … I get some food ahead of time, and my garage starts to look like a small warehouse by (Christmas Eve). Other people give money for us to go buy food to fill in gaps.”
The ever-growing community movement spawned from a conversation McReynolds had with her then 7-year-old daughter Samantha after their neighbor’s house caught fire in 2012.
“She was asking about the firefighters and I was telling her they work long hours and holidays, and that they even work Christmas,” she said. “(From there,) this was just a way to give back.”
The first year, “Almost Like Home” served only firefighters, but by the next year it began feeding other first responders whose jobs required them to spend Christmas away from their families.
But this year, McReynolds’ personal circumstances put the “Almost Like Home” meal in jeopardy. Her father passed away earlier in the year and she’s the caregiver for her ailing mother. When the day after Thanksgiving came, though, she once again posted the all-call on the group’s Facebook page. Just like clockwork, food commitments started pouring in.
“This year I could have easily said ‘Forget it,’ but I just stepped back and thought, ‘This will all work out,'” McReynolds said. “The volunteers are so good, they stepped up big like they always do, and we pulled it off.
“People are good, and I believe there is more good out there than bad,” she added. “… I may have had a bad year, but some of these first responders may have had one too. These are people who watch our backs when we’re sleeping. … So I’ll probably do this until I die, or at least as there is community interest in seeing it continue.”
A small token
As Ervin organized the food on the table at Fire Station 1 Wednesday, she addressed all the firefighters as if they were her own family.
In a lot of cases, that may as well have been the truth, she said.
Her husband, Glenn “Pee Wee” Gregg, retired in 2007 after 28 years with SFD, and the couple — which has volunteered with the “Almost Like Home” group since its inception — takes the mission personally.
“We can understand,” Ervin said. “My husband had to pull many of these holiday shifts over the years. … I just enjoy doing this. It makes my heart feel good, and for (Gregg), it’s sort of like a legacy he’s leaving behind.”
Over the years, Ervin said, she’s brought many meals to the fire station. Some were unexpected, and just revealed the unique nature of first responders’ everyday work.
“I remember times eating in restaurants with my husband and (other firefighters), and they had all given their orders,” she said. “But when that bell went off, they had to go. I’d just tell the (servers) to pack it up and I’d take it to the fire station.”
For something like the holiday meal to catch on so well, Ervin said, is a sign of a strong community.
“I want to see it continue,” she said. “I know it’s not much, but it shows we give back as a community. It’s amazing to see how many people give their time to do this for first responders.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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