{"id":13506,"date":"2025-12-23T21:05:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=13506"},"modified":"2025-12-23T21:05:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:05:43","slug":"salvation-army-volunteer-steps-down-after-40-years-of-hosting-christmas-day-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=13506","title":{"rendered":"Salvation Army volunteer steps down after 40 years of hosting Christmas Day meals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n David ran the first Christmas Day meal at The Salvation Army’s Braintree church in 1982<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: The Salvation Army)<\/span><\/p>\n

A longstanding community tradition in Braintree will enter a new chapter this Christmas as David Mann, a 79-year-old Salvation Army member, retires from leading the Christmas Day meal he founded more than four decades ago.<\/p>\n

For the first time in years, Mann will spend December 25 at home with his family \u2014 a quiet celebration following a lifetime of service, ensuring others never faced the day alone.<\/p>\n

Mann first became involved with The Salvation Army on Rayne Road in 1969.<\/p>\n

In 1982, after hearing about a Christmas meal organised elsewhere for people without a place to spend the day, he discovered that no such gathering existed locally.<\/p>\n

Determined to ensure that no one in Braintree spent Christmas Day alone, he launched what would become a cherished annual event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were just seven of us in 1982,\u201d he recalled, \u201cbut if there\u2019s one day you don\u2019t want to be on your own, it\u2019s Christmas Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

His belief that the season should offer \u201cfriendship and fellowship\u201d became the foundation of a tradition that quickly grew.\u00a0Following coverage in the local press, the meal expanded dramatically.\u00a0Volunteer numbers surged and attendance climbed to more than 50 people the very next year.<\/p>\n

In some years, up to 90 guests filled the hall, with extra tables squeezed in wherever space allowed.<\/p>\n

Those who attended ranged from older adults living alone to people facing homelessness aided by organisations like New Direction.<\/p>\n

Across decades, Mann took charge in the kitchen using the skills he gained from managing a lunch club.<\/p>\n

More recently, the outreach broadened: volunteers began preparing oven-ready meals topped off with fruit, chocolates and other festive treats for those unable to attend in person.<\/p>\n

This year, roughly 77 meals are expected to be delivered throughout the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

While Rachel Hepburn, leader of Braintree Salvation Army, will oversee the sit-in meal, Mann and his wife Cathy will still help distribute food on December 23.<\/p>\n

After decades at the helm, his family have encouraged him to become a guest rather than an organiser \u2014 a suggestion he says is both timely and bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may finally be time to hand over the torch,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I will miss it greatly. I\u2019ll be thinking about what is going on all day at The Salvation Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mann credits the gratitude of volunteers, guests and the community for sustaining him each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople expect The Salvation Army to do this type of thing, and we\u2019re privileged that we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David ran the first Christmas Day meal at The Salvation Army’s Braintree church in 1982\u00a0(Photo: The Salvation Army) A longstanding community tradition in Braintree will enter a new chapter this Christmas as David Mann, a 79-year-old Salvation Army member, retires from leading the Christmas Day meal he founded more than four decades ago. For the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2171,813,47,3913,1614,1581,1281,3912,471],"class_list":["post-13506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-army","tag-christmas","tag-day","tag-hosting","tag-meals","tag-salvation","tag-steps","tag-volunteer","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}