Serving the masses

link Derek Major: Staff photo

Wynella Shaw, front, helps serve food for the Christmas Day luncheon at El Rancho.

Most restaurants were closed on Christmas Day, but cars lined up early Thursday morning at the El Rancho to take part in restaurant's annual Christmas luncheon.

“We’ve been doing this for 11 years now,” said Joey Garcia, whose family opened the restaurant in 1989. “Me and my wife had come to know the Lord and just wanted to know how to serve him. So, we thought we would do what we do best, which is cooking and serving. So, we opened up our doors to everybody and just served up some good food.”

Dozens of volunteers showed up to help serve and give back on this holiday. An estimated 200 lunches were served.

“We’ve never really solicited for volunteers, we just kinda prayed,” Garcia said. “The first few years it was kind of stressful because we didn’t know how things were going to go, but the Lord’s always provided us with people. We have some who have been here since the start and some who have been here two and three years.”

Melvin Macafoo has volunteered for the last six years and said he is always excited about the opportunity to give back, but also just happy to see people come out and enjoy good food.

“I love to come out here and help this restaurant out,” said Macafoo, who was born and raised in Portales.

Ted Garcia, Joey Garcia’s brother, has been a volunteer since the restaurant started the free luncheon.

“It’s an honor to serve the community and just be able to give back,” Ted Garcia said. “To show people who’ve blessed us appreciation and be able to give back to them is amazing.”

Joe Semante, who brought his wife and two kids for the past three years, loves coming to the restaurant and being part of a tradition.

“It’s a good thing for the community; its pretty cool to see them serve the community,” Semante said. “The food is good, too. I love the food.”

When the luncheon started, the Garcias served traditional Thanksgiving food, but a few years ago changed the menu.

“We started out serving turkey and ham and that stuff ... after popular requests we changed the menu,” Joey Garcia said. “Now we just serve our enchiladas and beans and rice and traditional Mexican food and it went over great. It’s good for us because it’s easy, it’s something we make all the time. We don’t have to bring out a lot of extra ingredients that we don’t usually carry.”

David Miller of Clovis moved to the area two years ago and heard about the luncheon through word of mouth.

“I didn’t think it was actually real, but a few people said it was so I figured I’d drive out here and see,” Miller said. “I was glad I came out here, good food and people. What more can you ask for?”

Jamie Garcia, wife of Joey, said she is happy to give back every year to the area that has been so good to her.

“It’s just awesome to hang out with the people of Portales,” Jamie Garcia said. “I’m not a hometown girl, but I’ve been here since 1996 and there’s no place I’d rather be. It’s a fantastic community.”