For the third consecutive year, a heart-warming initiative designed to ensure nobody spends Christmas Day alone is returning to the Yorkshire Coast, and is expanding its outreach from Scarborough to include Eastfield this festive season.
The Scarborough Community Christmas Dinner, spearheaded by Maya Mihoc, founder of Big Maya’s Jerk and in collaboration with The Rainbow Centre and other community partners, is aiming to foster "positivity, hope, and connection" at a time when "division seems prevalent".
This year, the free Christmas Day meal initiative will be hosted across two venues on 25th December 2025. The established dinner will be held at The Church Parish House / Rainbow Centre on Castle Road, Scarborough, a location Maya Mihoc hopes will become their "permanent home". The new Eastfield Christmas Dinner will take place at The Lounge, St Cecilia’s, 1 Eastway, Eastfield.
Organisers stress that the event is designed to embrace all members of the community, offering a vital opportunity for individuals to come together, share companionship, and enjoy a warm meal.
Maya Mihoc confirmed the inclusive nature of the celebrations:
"Last year we handed out 62 hot meals and we distribute 32 food parcels. We had 21 volunteers and we had an incredible support from the community and we're very proud of our achievement.
This dinner is not only for people that are homeless. This is for anyone in our community that's alone at Christmas that struggles with food insecurity or just wants to be around a bit of joy. I know we live in very uh challenging times at the moment and I know a lot of people are spending Christmas alone.
Our dinner it's very inclusive. It's welcome to anyone. We're going to have uh options for anyone that's vegan, for anyone that's pescatarian. So our dinner is incredibly inclusive".
Attendees can look forward to a festive meal with an "Afro-Caribbean feel". Maya added,
"We live in some quite difficult times. A lot of families that can't afford to travel away to see their families or be joined for Christmas. So they spend a lot of of times Christmas alone.
But we hope that for those couple of hours that you're going to be with us, you're going to eat some amazing food because it's cooked by me. So we're going to give you a bit of an Afro-Caribbean feel and also we can bring a bit of joy and laughter on everyone's faces".
Essential Booking Required
To ensure the events can be managed efficiently across both Scarborough and Eastfield, organisers are urgently requesting that all attendees register in advance.
Maya Mihoc outlined the critical need for pre-registration:
"If anyone wants to come along for dinner, please make sure you go to our website which is https://scarboroughchristmasdinner.co.uk/.
We have a simple form there. You can self-refer yourself. Just put your details and then we will know exactly the number of people coming through.
It's really important for us to manage all the logistics and the rest of this correctly. So please, if you come, don't just show up. Please make sure that you register because if you show up, we might not be able to feed you".
Organisations and individuals can also refer participants using a specific referral form.
Appeal for Gifts, Donations, and Festive Characters
With the dinner expanding its operation this year, the team has issued a desperate call for essential donations and for volunteers to help bring the festive spirit to life.
"We have an elf and we have a Tinker Bell. But one thing that we don't have, it's a Santa or a Grinch. So if you're out there, Santa or you, Mr. Grinch, please get in touch. We would love to have you. But just an hour on Christmas Day.
We only need a couple more volunteers. If anyone is open to volunteer for us, but we are in desperate need of adult gift up to £10. We have collection stages in Scarborough or Scalby or Eastfield Library.
And then any cash donations which were also desperate need of just to make sure that we provide all the ingredients for the dinners and all the little things. Then yes, please make sure you can support us".
There are more details about the dinners at https://scarboroughchristmasdinner.co.uk/
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