“I actually had a really cool hat on earlier and someone came in and wanted it so Christmas spirit I had to give it to him,” Riddle said laughingly.
This is Wilma Griffin’s first year as a volunteer and she decided to show her granddaughter, J’ona Dozier, the importance of giving back. Dozier smiling, shyly said, “It makes me feel warm and gooey inside.”
Many good ideas and initiatives start with enthusiasm. Over time however, people can lose sight of why they began services and lose interest. Hilty has seen this first hand and is trying to hold on to a dying tradition of hotel buffets on Christmas day. “When I first started doing this we had seven hotels doing this. Now sadly we are down to three,” she said.
Despite the loss of spirit from the other four, 80 volunteers still showed up this year at the Omni William Penn to serve about 400 people. Last year there were about 600. This is the paradox of the soup kitchen mentality. Many people show up to get a feeling of doing whats right, she said. The more people helped the better. However, if less people show up, some feel they have made less of an impact. The truth being that homeless people needing a meal decreasing by one third is good for everyone overall, she said.
Milton James, like many others, is homeless this year and would rather be spend the holiday with his children at home. He has an ambition to be with them this time next year. “Due to my current life circumstances I can’t be with them,” he said. But to all of the people who worked to make sure he could have a feast of ham, turkey, stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, minestrone soup and pies he said “It’s very much appreciated and Merry Christmas.”
(J.L. Martello also contributed to this article.)
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