A FEAST FROM THE HEART
BY SARAH STACHURA
Carbondale (IL) Times-Tribune
12/22/2007
Debbie Calandi’s Christmas dinner table has room for more than 250.
On Tuesday, the lifelong Carbondale resident will be assisted by
approximately 30 volunteers as she cooks and serves a free ham dinner
to those who make their way to her restaurant, Calandi’s Cafe.
“We will also distribute dinners for homebound residents,” Mrs. Calandi
said. “We go to the senior high-rises, like the Ben Franklin
Apartments, and we’ve gotten orders from Dunmore, Throop, Greenfield
Township and Forest City.”
“I know a lot of people in the community,” she said. “Without the help
of my good friends and volunteers, I would never be able to put this
together.”
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Christmas dinner set
Norman (OK) Transcript
December 22, 2007
A Norman Christmas Day tradition for more than 20 years will continue
Tuesday with the annual Christmas Day community dinner at Norman High
School.
The meal will be served 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Norman High School commons cafeteria. Admission into the dinner is free.
Bob Magarian, director of the holiday feast, said rides will be
provided and dinner will be delivered to local residents who are
shut-in. Volunteers will make deliveries on Christmas Day for Meals on
Wheels.
Magarian said the dinner is a community project coordinated by St.
Michael’s Episcopal Church and underwritten by Norman banks, businesses
and other community donations.
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Numbers of hungry are growing here
Marion food pantry operators say they are having trouble keeping up
By KURT MOORE
The Marion (OH) Star
December 22, 2007
MARION - They are the fillers of bare cupboards, people like Jim and
Susan Curry who have operated a local food pantry for six years.
As demand increases, their concern is what to do if their cupboard runs dry.
"There's a real struggle with donations," said Susan Curry, who
operates The Good Shepherd Food Pantry at 2231 Smeltzer Road. "We spent
down to our last dime. Unless something opens up I don't know what we
will do."
Marion County's food pantries, which are frequently offshoots of
churches' efforts to help the community, are often a destination for
the area's hungry. Each pantry estimates it serves hundreds each month,
numbers that several pantry coordinators say has increased during the
last few months of 2007.
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Homeless Person's Memorial Day
The Day (CT)
12/22/2007
At the start of every winter since 1990, the National Homeless
Coalition has sponsored National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day, to
bring the tragedy of homelessness to public attention and to remember
our friends who have paid the ultimate penalty for our nation's failure
to end homelessness.
On Friday, on the lawn and steps in front of the First Congregational
Church, New London held its first (but not its last) such act of
community remembrance. A brief service of prayers, a reading from the
prophet Isaiah, a candlelight vigil and the naming of those who have
died homeless in recent times, took place at the corner of State and
Union streets, across from City Hall.
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Encouraging hope during annual homeless service
Event gave voice to those who can’t speak for themselves, says charity official.
By SHERRY LONG
Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times Leader
December 23, 2007
Homelessness doesn’t just affect large cities like New York City and
Los Angeles. It’s also a growing problem in Luzerne County, Volunteers
of America officials said.
Believing it’s important to bring awareness to the issue to help end
homelessness, the Luzerne County Homeless Coalition held its second
annual Homeless Memorial Service Friday afternoon at St. Stephen’s
Episcopal Church to coincide with other homeless memorials being held
across the country.
“The purpose of the event was to be a voice for those who may not be
able to speak for themselves,” said Bill Jones, Volunteers of America’s
vice president and chief operating officer.
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RESPECT FOR OVERLOOKED:
Candlelight vigil memorializes dozens of homeless Atlantans who died during the past year
By Gayle White
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution
12/22/07
As the longest night of the year fell on Atlanta, about 100 people
gathered on the edge of downtown Friday to light candles honoring the
homeless dead.
In the chill of the evening, with MARTA trains rumbling by, they paid tribute to people most never knew.
"When homeless folks die, they just die," said Robert Mason, director
of community relations for St. Joseph's Mercy Care Services, sponsor of
the vigil, which took place outside its Decatur Street headquarters.
"We want to bring attention to those folks who have passed in a quiet
death and call their names."
They sounded out 65 names in all —- men and women who lived on the
streets and in shelters, who were mentally ill, drug-addicted or just
down on their luck.
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Residents face many choices on assistance
By Amy Carr
Berkshire (MA) Eagle
12/23/2007
After three years of intensive study on poverty in Massachusetts, Randy
Albelda knows that it is not seasonal. But, she also knows that the
chill of winter and the spirit of the holidays mean increased risk for
residents struggling to make ends meet.
"We have a very large poor sector in this high-cost state, and not
enough public supports," said the lead researcher of "Bridging the Gaps
Between Earnings and Basic Needs in Massachusetts," published in
October by the Center for Social Policy at the University of
Massachusetts Boston. "And people manage during the cold months when
oil prices soar and they want to buy presents. They move in with other
people, or don't eat, or go to food banks. But even making $9 an hour,
it makes for very hard choices about how to prioritize spending."
The 2007 federal poverty line for an individual is $10,210 and for a
family of four it is $20,650, according to the National Survey of
Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients.
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Donors give a hand, and a coat, to homeless
Thousands receive food, clothes during holidays, thanks to nonprofit
By Nicole Fuller
Baltimore (MD) Sun
December 23, 2007
On day one, the donations trickled in: A man driving a cream-colored
Lincoln Town Car stopped by the vast parking lot along a busy stretch
of road in Annapolis to leave a trash bag full of sweaters and pants.
Millersville mom Meredith Gray came with her son, Tommy, 6, bearing
what he said were "some of my toys that I got for my birthday."
On the site of the Riva Road farmers' market where donations for
clothes, food, toys and other items will be accepted until 4 p.m.
today, the volunteers worked diligently to retrieve the loads of gifts,
sorting them into boxes, and eventually loading them onto 22 trucks to
deliver to thousands of homeless people across the region on Christmas
Eve.
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Room at the Inn
Priest leads an effort to offer dignity to the homeless
BY ELIZABETH BIRGE
Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger
December 23, 2007
Shortly after 9:30 on a Wednesday morning, a man shuffles into the
multipurpose room of Central Presbyterian Church in Montclair. Weighed
down by layers of clothes, he carries a small black duffel bag
containing pretty much everything he owns.
He smells faintly of alcohol and is difficult to understand, both
because of some missing teeth and because of a long gray beard that
hangs to his chest and muffles his voice. But he's remarkably erudite,
lightly taking a visitor's hand and bowing every so slightly as he is
introduced.
"Madam," he says.
He's come to use the shower, clean himself up and get fresh underwear
and socks -- some of the basic elements of personal dignity -- things
more difficult to come by when you're homeless, as Joe is.
But he's helped in this pursuit by a retired Episcopal priest who in
the past year has assembled a group of volunteers in town looking to
cut through the red tape that prevents one person from helping another
-- the homeless, the poor, the under-served.
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