After serving free dinners every Tuesday night from November through March for 16 years, the Community Dinner Table served their 100,000th meal this week. A record crowd of hungry men, women and children gathered to celebrate this milestone.

Rather than award one lucky person, CDT chose instead to give everyone a ticket for a free Blackfoot Movie Mill matinee showing of Mufasa on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. There was also a decorated cake to honor the occasion which the Greater Blackfoot Area Chamber of Commerce served along with the meal that night.

Next week the CDT will be serving their Christmas Dinner at their normal time on Tuesday night Dec. 17 from 5-6:30 p.m. The dinners are held at the Jason Lee Memorial Methodist Church located at 168 S. University in Blackfoot; a secular event being held at a church. They emphatically say, “Come and join us for a warm meal and friendly conversation.”

The CDT also distributes food boxes each Wednesday from 3-6 p.m. at their Food Pantry location at 245 W. Sexton in Blackfoot. However, since Christmas is on a Wednesday, next week on Dec. 18 they will be distributing their Christmas food boxes from 2-6 p.m. Each box has either a turkey or a ham and all the fixings for a feast for the holiday. They will be closed on Christmas.

The Pantry will be open again on the following Wednesday, Jan. 1 — a great way to start the new year.

The CDT began when two neighbors of different Christian churches decided to work together to serve a weekly free-to-all dinner. Co-founders Lee Hammett and Ron Thompson were both on hand this week to see the results — so far — of their grand experiment, proving that a community of many different beliefs can work together to serve all their neighbors.