People are hungry—every day—but as the holiday season approaches many Arizonans see St. Vincent De Paul as the community organization most responsible for feeding the hungry who may otherwise go without a Christmas or Thanksgiving meal.
In Nov. St. Vincent De Paul served more than 4,000 Thanksgiving meals to the Valley homeless community or to those who find themselves in tough financial times and are simply not able to buy a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
The delicious meal consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, corn bread, stuffing, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and apple or pumpkin pie. St, Vincent has actually been serving families with an early Thanksgiving meal for weeks now.
During the food service food box donations were given out as well.
The donations consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pasta, canned vegetables SPAM and other food stuffs.
Every Tuesday in the weeks prior to Thanksgiving was “Turkey Tuesday” where St. Vincent would give free frozen turkeys to families during dinner.
Each day volunteers serve in different capacities from preparing and serving the food and setting up the massive event for the organization.
One volunteer, Bob Hess, has been volunteering for five years and told Northeast Valley News,
“This year we had the most volunteers compared to other years I volunteered on Thanksgiving,”
Hess said his volunteerism is due to his faith and a “calling.”
One man, very grateful for St. Vincent De Paul, Jack Leach is a 70-year-old veteran who served in the Marine Corps during Vietnam and told Northeast Valley News that he became homeless during the summer.
Leach faced extreme heat and some violent encounters on the Phoenix streets. After suffering heat stroke Leach said, “You were lucky if you got some ice—that was luxury.”
After getting knocked unconscious while living on the street he decided to sleep outside of the VA building in Phoenix for some time. Leach said one day his life changed, when a woman who came to the VA, saw him outside walked up and told him that she just made a donation at this place and “You got to go there.”
The woman gave Leach a card to St. Vincent De Paul.
Leach now lives in De Paul Manor, a homeless shelter at St. Vincent De Paul where he gets fed each day and works.
Leach is also moving toward reconciling with his family and trying to get his life back together.
I’m very thankful to be here,” Leach said.
Preparation for the large Christmas meal begins several days ahead of Christmas Day.
The biggest challenge every year according to a St. Vincent De Paul chef, is making certain they have enough staff and volunteers to prepare and serve. For the kitchen alone, it takes up to 20-25 people to prep and serve and St. Vincent De Paul serves meals to the hungry every day not just during the holidays.
