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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Chronis’ Christmas tradition serves up free meal

Restaurant offers friendly place to be for 500 guests

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Volunteer Joanna Roberts serves free meals to patrons at Chronis' Restaurant and Lounge on Christmas in Vancouver.
Volunteer Joanna Roberts serves free meals to patrons at Chronis' Restaurant and Lounge on Christmas in Vancouver. Photo Gallery

Serving 500 guests a free Christmas meal can be hard work, but Chuck Chronis and his crew of volunteers said they can hardly imagine doing anything else on the holiday.

Each year Chronis, 75, considers ending his tradition of 30-plus years. But once he starts reminiscing about the people he’s fed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it seems more likely that you’d have to drag him away for that to happen.

“It’s been a good run,” Chronis said with a sigh Thursday, sitting on a stool and taking a quick break from the steady stream of visitors. “My health isn’t real good, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing this, but as long as I’m healthy I will.”

Then he brought up the story of a woman he met that morning, and it brought him a new burst of energy.

The woman was in a wheelchair, and he handed her $5 that a volunteer had donated.

“She cried and hugged me,” he said, with a tear threatening to appear at the corner of his eye. “It was so sweet.”

Chronis and his longtime friend and co-founder of the tradition, Rich Melnick, started serving free Thanksgiving meals at Chronis’ Restaurant and Lounge in 1982.

The Christmas tradition began in 1998, after the two took a Thanksgiving off to spend with their families.

“My family begged me to take one off, and I did, but that night Melnick and I called each other, and he said ‘How do you feel?’ ” Chronis said. “I said ‘I feel like I cheated everyone.’ So we decided to do Christmas that year. That’s how we got started — and now we do both.”

Melnick said he remembers that conversation well.

“I asked him how he felt and he said ‘horrible,’ ” Melnick said. “I said ‘Me too, Chuck.’ “

And as it turned out, serving food on both holidays is even better than just doing one holiday, Melnick said.

“Look at this,” he said gesturing to the crowd of smiling visitors as they chatted across long tables in the dining room. “You see how nice everyone is? ‘Please’ and ‘thank you’? This is what it’s all about. I don’t feel like I’m giving anything up at all.”

Many of Melnick’s family members also volunteer to help with the meal.

On Christmas, while the elder Melnick built plates of food, his son, Ben, showed visitors to their seats and asked them what they would like to eat.

At the door, Melnick’s father-in-law, Gene Munson, greeted people.

“I like it a lot,” Ben Melnick said. “It’s fun to spend the day down here. You’re tired at the end, but it’s so rewarding.”

Munson agreed.

“This is what Christmas is about,” the 88-year-old said.

The meal typically costs between $3,000 and $4,000 each year, Chronis said, and whatever food is left over goes to local charities.

Chronis wife, Sandy, also collects scarves and other gear for those in need all year long. She buys things when they go on sale and saves them for the Christmas visitors.

The feast lasted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with grateful visitors sharing thanks and hugs with volunteers as they left.

“These people, they just work their hearts out,” said Sharon Allison, who said she comes every year. “Everybody’s so happy in here. They’re all in a good mood. They treat everybody like they’re somebody special. It just makes you feel so good.”

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