“We say never look down unless it’s to pull someone else up,” said volunteer Lisa Hilty. Hilty and 80 other volunteers worked to give about 400 people a meal until 2 p.m. at the Omni William Penn in conjunction with the Salvation Army effort to feed people that were homeless on Christmas day.
Hilty is in her 22nd year of contributing to the effort of letting those out in the cold know that there is still warmth left in the world.
“We have needy maybe lonely people and don’t have anyone to spend Christmas with. People from mental health services et cetera,” she said. “It’s more than dinner its community, it’s family. What better way to celebrate his birth than to come down and do His work.”
Part of the lesson of the season is that it is better to give than to receive; charity towards all mankind. Brian Riddle is in his second year doing it.
“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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