Sharky's Cafe, community help make, deliver 450 Christmas meals for Latrobe area families

Hundreds of Westmoreland County families will receive hot Christmas dinners thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers.

Sharky’s Cafe in Unity organized a donation drive and cooked the dinners, which will be delivered Wednesday.

Cafe co-owner Jamie Huemme said she was overwhelmed by the community’s response.

“I put a casual feeler out in the community and got flooded with people who wanted to help and wanted to donate,” she said.

Huemme and her staff had hoped to raise enough money to buy 210 dinners. They got enough for 450.

Volunteers will distribute the meals Wednesday to families in need identified by The Salvation Army and Latrobe Rotary’s Backpack Bag-of-Food program.

Cooking began Monday.

Making 450 meals with side dishes took a lot of work, Sharky’s Cafe general manager John Heiple said as he stood in the kitchen and watched Dave Hart, executive chef, pull a 14-pound ham from the oven.

Kitchen staff worked long hours, some of which was on their own time. They prepared meals to be donated while also cooking food for customers.

Sharky’s employees cooked 17 hams, each weighing 14 to 16 pounds, Heiple said.

About 10 volunteers will gather Wednesday to prepare, package and deliver the meals.

“Our main goal was to reach out to some families that are in need of a good, warm Christmas meal,” Hart said. “The community response was amazing. We were delighted to have a lot of people.”

The drive’s success shows how people will band together to help each other during trying times, Huemme said.

“It was just awesome to see the community rally, again, like they have for the last 10 months throughout this pandemic,” she said.