Every Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter - for the last six years - the big, impressive, Cathedral looking - Saint Benedict Church - in the Northern part of Chicago - has an awe-inspiring event which involves a lot of effort from the parishioners, clergy and the neighborhood volunteers from several neighborhood churches.
When I arrived as a volunteer - to serve the lunch to "the needy" - I expected to see a mixed "bag" of individuals "down on their luck". I tried to get an idea about what kind of people come for a free meal.
I asked for some numbers. The tall, wiry gentleman who appeared in charge of the event - who stood outside of the big kitchen - - gave me some data re: the food and the people who come to those events. Tons of turkeys and hams - are donated by various parishioners of three neighborhood churches.
Inside the huge, nice Saint Ben's kitchen - a big guy with kind eyes - a typical kitchen supervisor - who feeds a lot of people - kept working hard as I asked him about the various side dishes - stuffing and vegetables which were almost ready to serve.
Saint Ben's kitchen and huge dining hall in the basement of the three-story Ecumenical Building next to the mini mansion resembling - a Rectory - the Saint Ben Church fed about two hundred people in the basement level.
They fed another hundred and fifty "needy" and some not so needy - as I noticed - on the first floor. Then - another event organizer told me that ab. hundred and fifty people more - came and left fast - not wanting to sit down and get a small gift raffled off in a lovely manner by tiny parishioners (adorable little children) - helping a lot in an orderly process of reading off the raffle tickets and dispensing small gift packages of the toiletries - made up for visiting "guys and dolls" - in need.
All in all - they fed approximately five hundred people - a big meal - consisting of a generous portion of turkey/ham - dressing - three kinds of vegetables - soda - coffee - and pumpkin pie for dessert.
The volunteers of all ages and backgrounds - like me - kept smiling at the people sitting at the numerous tables - waiting for the meal. The good feelings penetrated easily the whole place in spite of some offensive smells of unwashed bodies of quite a few participants.
The volunteers of all ages and backgrounds - like me - kept smiling at the people sitting at the numerous tables - waiting for the meal. The good feelings penetrated easily the whole place in spite of some offensive smells of unwashed bodies of quite a few participants.
Some of the people - though - (a very few gentlemen - not the ladies at that event) - had an indifferent, stony look on their faces - as if they wanted to eat their free meal quickly in order to have more time for their God/Alcohol - or another drug - evidently - their reason for living - at the moment.
Most people eating the free meal - however - appeared kind and appreciative in spite of their hard luck, bad breaks and probably a few wrong choices they made - while negotiating their lives' crucial turns. It felt good to see how they genuinely smiled at the parish's little children and volunteers like me - making them happy - even for a few moments.
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Most people eating the free meal - however - appeared kind and appreciative in spite of their hard luck, bad breaks and probably a few wrong choices they made - while negotiating their lives' crucial turns. It felt good to see how they genuinely smiled at the parish's little children and volunteers like me - making them happy - even for a few moments.
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