Filling more needs than just nutrition
RED ANDREWS CHRISTMAS DINNER COLLECTING DONATIONS

BY CHRIS SCHUTZ Comments 0
Published: December 4, 2008

Red Andrews Christmas Dinner organizer Betty McCord shows the storage area at 1139 N Rockwell Ave. where toys will be collected for this year’s dinner. PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN

Red Andrews Christmas Dinner organizer Betty McCord is anxious to fill up this year’s toy drop-off location.

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HOW TO HELP

Red Andrews donations

Red Andrews Christmas Dinner gifts for children, such as toys, socks, underwear and school supplies, are being collected at this year’s donation site starting today.

→Where: 1139 N Rockwell Ave.

→When: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily

→Telephone: 787-0819

→Mailing address for monetary donations: Red Andrews Christmas Dinner, P.O. Box 18894, Oklahoma City, OK 73154

McCord wants every child who comes to the dinner downtown to get a toy, socks and underwear.

This year, she’s also focusing on another thing: school supplies.

The new drop-off site opens today at 1139 N Rockwell Ave. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

"I want real good school supplies for these kids,” said McCord, the niece of the late state Rep. Red Andrews, who started the annual holiday dinner in the 1940s.

McCord has been organizing the dinner for more than 30 years.

The dinner will start at 10 a.m. on Christmas Day at the Cox Convention Center, and will continue until each of the 3,000 to 4,000 guests is fed, McCord said.

That McCord, 79, is able to work on the project is something of a miracle, since she is recovering from a stroke she suffered in September and survived a nightmarish two days trapped upside-down in her car after an accident in Seminole County last year. She barely remembers the accident, but recalls that her four dogs were in the car with her, and credits them with her survival.

Next year, McCord’s routine for the Red Andrews Christmas Dinner may be slightly different, since she plans to move to a house her son is building for her in Lamar, a town of less than 200 people near Holdenville.

McCord and her family will still come to Oklahoma City to put together the dinner.

"We’ll just do it every year,” she said.

As always, volunteers are welcome to serve food and help in other ways at this year’s dinner.

"Anybody who wants to volunteer can volunteer,” McCord said.