Seymour city employees take their seats around Dovie’s Recreational Center to enjoy their free meals provided by local volunteers.
Noah Dalton | The Tribune
A Seymour woman has been providing free meals for Seymour city employees during the holiday season as a thank you for their hard work throughout the year.
Dovie Stidham, owner of Dovie’s Westside Laundromat in Seymour, has been hosting a free meal for city workers for the past eight years, an event she says is typically well attended.
“We do this every year,” she said. “We usually have a good turnout, and they all appreciate it.”
Stidham uses her free meals as a way to extend her gratitude to employees who are working year-round to improve the day-to-day lives of city residents.
“Snow, sleet, they’re out there working for us, and I feel like it’s something that we need to do for them,” Stidham said.
This year’s meal consisted of ham, chicken and dumplings, cheesy potatoes, corn, rolls and more. Each year, Stidham expects to typically dish out around 75 to 100 meals throughout the day.
Though providing that many meals to city employees equates to a large workload for Stidham and other volunteers, she does not mind because it serves as a way for her to give back to them.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s OK. We do it because we enjoy it,” she said. “We do it for them.”