LA GRANDE — Few people will be working harder on Christmas Day than Dianna Douglas.

And nobody will be having more fun.

The La Grande woman will again be helping provide a flavorful gift to Wallowa, serving free meals she has cooked at the town’s senior center from 1-6 p.m.

This will mark the fourth time in six years Douglas will be putting on the Wallowa Family Christmas Dinner, a meal she helps pay for with the assistance of donations and is served with help of at least half a dozen volunteers.

Douglas enjoys reaching out to the community of Wallowa because it has a special place in her heart. She lived there 15 years before moving to La Grande two years ago.

“I love it. I’m elated because I will be around family. I don’t have any blood relatives here, so the community of Wallowa is kind of my family,” Douglas said.

She started the Wallowa dinners in 2017, offering Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for three years until the COVID pandemic hit. She revived the Thanksgiving portion of her holiday dinner program last month, serving a meal that drew 60 people.

At the Christmas dinner people will have the option of enjoying their meals at the Wallowa Senior Center, taking them home or having them delivered if they are housebound.

Douglas said this is an important time to reach out to Wallowa because many there are still recovering from the impact of the hailstorm that struck in August and caused major damage to many homes and businesses.

“People are still feeling the effect of it,” she said of the hailstorm that pummeled the town.

A retired nurse, Douglas regularly volunteers as a cook at the Wallowa Senior Center and the Union County Senior Center. She also has prepared many meals at the Union County Warming Station, La Grande, and has volunteered as a cook at the Baker County Senior Center.

Douglas reaches out to those in need because she empathizes with them, knowing with a wrong twist of fate anyone could be in their shoes.

“All of us are one step away from being homeless,” she said, explaining that an accident or the loss of a job is all it takes for someone to find themselves with no food or shelter.

Douglas cannot comprehend what it would be like to be hungry for an extended period.

“I cannot imagine it. My soul would just hurt,” she said. “When I’m hungry, it feels like my stomach is chewing my backbone. I can’t think of anything else.”

Douglas developed a love of cooking for others while growing up in a family of 13 in Utah, helping her mother prepare family meals. She has always looked upon meal preparation from a larger perspective as a result.

“I can’t just cook for one person,” she said.

Regardless of how many people Douglas is cooking for, the experience is always a joy.

“I’m happiest when I am in a kitchen,” she said. “Cooking is therapeutic for me.”

The Christmas meal to be served in Wallowa will include ham, turkey, sweet potatoes, a hash brown casserole known as funeral potatoes, dinner rolls, cranberries, a green bean casserole, split-pea soup, salads and desserts. Douglas will cook everything but the salads and desserts, which will be provided by community members.

Douglas will be assisted at the dinner by a number of volunteers, including Jaunita Hulse, who has helped her with many other community dinners.

“She is my right-hand girl,” Douglas said of Hulse.

Douglas emphasized that she is grateful for the many people like Hulse who step forward to assist her.

“I could not do it without their help,” she said.

Douglas has had a lifelong passion for meal preparation not only because food is integral to our survival.

“Food is comfort,” she said. “It is memories.”

Terry Everidge, a cook at the Union County Senior Center, said that working with Douglas and seeing how passionate she is about bringing joy to others through cooking has a wonderful influence on her.

“It makes me a better person,” Everidge said.