The Jasper Food Bank is looking for a few decent cooks.

Community dinners will once again take place in town, and organizer Patrick Mooney is looking for culinary teams to cook the Sunday dinners.

“You don’t need culinary skills, just the bodies. I meet you in the kitchen on Sunday at 1 p.m. with half of your team, the other half shows up by 4:30 and you help prepare,” Mooney said.

Teams can be as involved as they wish. They are able to plan the entire meal, or let Mooney pick the menu, which feeds between 200 and 300 people.

“The only real requirement is enthusiasm,” Mooney said.

Community dinners in their current form were started eight years ago due to a shortage of snow that forced Marmot Basin to lay off many of its ski hill employees.

“Ski hill employees were out of work, so we put on a free dinner. It was successful and became very popular so it continued. We soon realized were serving an economic need and a social need, so we built it into a community building exercise,” Mooney said.

The dinner attracts not only those who need financial support, but for those who needed social support, Mooney said.

It got out people that could afford a meal, but ate alone every night, and spouses of CN employees who were alone.

“It just evolved into a program that people are looking forward to and donate to,” Mooney said.

Those looking to prepare a meal are asked to contact Mooney and pick a Sunday between January 1 and the end of March.

“We already have three or four teams already signed up. It’s a first come, first serve basis,” Mooney said. “Everything is provided.”