Dec 24, 2003 By Jenny Susa 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – In the spirit of giving, volunteers at the Brownsville Soup Kitchen and others in the community have donated their time, money and resources to help those in need this holiday season. Volunteers at the soup kitchen including Theresa Gladden, Sheila Kendall and Raymond Paris Jr. sponsored distribution of toys to underprivileged families in the area, a food basket distribution and a coat voucher hand-out. On Tuesday, the volunteers served up a Christmas dinner for several hundred area residents.

Unfortunately, Gladden was ill and could not be present to serve Christmas dinner, but Kendall and Paris spoke on her behalf.

“She wasn’t feeling well today so we made her go home,” said Kendall.

“But she put a lot of work into organizing these events.”

Kendall further commented that the toy distribution went very well, and they expected a good turnout for the dinner, also.

“We had around 300 kids that got toys for Christmas,” said Kendall. “It went over big with them. So far today we have delivered 58 meals to Mulligan Manor, 67 meals to the bank building, and we delivered to four individuals’ homes who were not able to get out.”

As Kendall spoke, people were lining up outside the door waiting to receive their Christmas feast.

Paris said they expected about 120 people to come to the soup kitchen to eat dinner.

“A lot of times the number of people we get depends on the weather,” said Paris. “This year the number of people who came for Thanksgiving was down from last year, but we think it is because many people went away. Since we are not doing this on Christmas Eve, we think a lot of people will be here today.”

Kendall said that without the help of the public and local organizations, the dinner and other events would not have been possible.

“Grindstone Foodland donated the hams for the dinner, and we had food donated by Cisco and the Lions Club,” said Kendall. “There were also students from the Brownsville Area School District and Holy Rosary Catholic School that did caroling door to door and collected money and canned foods.”

In addition to those donations, the soup kitchen received home-baked cookies from several area residents and organizations, and Redstone Candy offered a donation as well.

“Each of the residents we delivered meals to got a small box of Redstone candy,” said Kendall. “And because of all the donated cookies, the people who eat here today can each have a small plate of cookies.”

She added that the Brownsville Area School District also donated books and money, and the toys were donated by Brownsville Hospital, McDonald’s, Tru Copy Printing, the Honor Society and the Flatiron Building.

At 11 a.m. the soup kitchen opened its doors to the public, and the residents came to the table to receive their holiday meal. They were greeted by the volunteers’ smiling faces and a Christmas tree that had gifts of gloves and warm socks underneath.

“I’ve done this for years now,” said Paris. “It’s always a lot of fun to help out.”