St. Vincent de Paul shelter in BR serves Easter lunch to 300
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A hand slowly raised in the crowd when the request went out in the St. Vincent de Paul dining room for a guest to say the blessing before Easter lunch.
Dallas Jackson, 43, a Chicago native who said he considers himself “somewhat” of a religious man, finally volunteered to say grace — after seeing no other hands raised — before he dug into his first plate.
“I don’t attend church every Sunday,” Jackson said later. “But since it’s Easter, I thought somebody should say the blessing.”
The traditional blessing is a daily occurrence at the midcity shelter off Florida Boulevard. Employees ask someone in the crowd to say the blessing before lunch begins, said Michael Acaldo, CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
While he said numerous people would normally volunteer, only Jackson volunteered Sunday, perhaps because of the significance of the holiday.
For Easter lunch, community
SHLETER
volunteers served plates of ham, green beans, dirty rice, bread and cheesecake — with seconds available — to about 300 people, many of them homeless or in financial need.
The dining room, which Acaldo said is a “place of last resort” for most seeking a meal, served a record 217,000 meals last year.
As is usually the case, Sunday’s meal drew a large crowd partly because of the holiday and partly because it came toward the end of the month.
With costs risings for gasoline, rent, medicine, bread and other food, people living on fixed incomes find themselves stretched at the end of the month and turn to St. Vincent de Paul, Acaldo said.
He said people who often have nowhere else to turn are the reason why he and about 50 volunteers donated their time to serve lunch on the holy day.
“This is what Easter is all about,” Acaldo said. “It’s about giving, and I can’t think of a better way to give.”
Latasha Bradley, 19, and Carol Stack, 55, said they enjoyed helping people and felt blessed to serve lunch at the dining room.
The pair, who became friends after meeting at a BREC center, volunteered at the dining room once a month for seven years until Bradley started school last fall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Stack said. Since then, they volunteer on holidays when Bradley is back from school on breaks.
“It’s part of our holiday tradition,” said Bradley, who is majoring in anesthesiology.
“For me, the holidays are here,” Stack said of the St. Vincent de Paul dining room.
Stack is a physical trainer at the Women’s Center for Wellness whose family lives in New York.
Dallas Jackson moved to Louisiana from Chicago two years ago to join his son and other family members.
He briefly returned to Chicago in August but returned about two weeks ago and has been staying at the society’s Plank Road shelter, Jackson said.
He has a construction job with steady hours but plans to stay at the shelter — with rates of $3 a day — until he saves more money.
That’s part of the reason why Jackson found himself at the dining room Sunday morning for Easter lunch, he said. And, when nobody else volunteered for the blessing, it’s why he said grace, a response he said he always has ready in case it’s needed.
He thanked Jesus Christ for waking up everyone there in the morning. Then he thanked God for giving them the day.
And, finally, he offered thanks for the meal.
Dallas Jackson, 43, a Chicago native who said he considers himself “somewhat” of a religious man, finally volunteered to say grace — after seeing no other hands raised — before he dug into his first plate.
“I don’t attend church every Sunday,” Jackson said later. “But since it’s Easter, I thought somebody should say the blessing.”
The traditional blessing is a daily occurrence at the midcity shelter off Florida Boulevard. Employees ask someone in the crowd to say the blessing before lunch begins, said Michael Acaldo, CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
While he said numerous people would normally volunteer, only Jackson volunteered Sunday, perhaps because of the significance of the holiday.
For Easter lunch, community
SHLETER
volunteers served plates of ham, green beans, dirty rice, bread and cheesecake — with seconds available — to about 300 people, many of them homeless or in financial need.
The dining room, which Acaldo said is a “place of last resort” for most seeking a meal, served a record 217,000 meals last year.
As is usually the case, Sunday’s meal drew a large crowd partly because of the holiday and partly because it came toward the end of the month.
With costs risings for gasoline, rent, medicine, bread and other food, people living on fixed incomes find themselves stretched at the end of the month and turn to St. Vincent de Paul, Acaldo said.
He said people who often have nowhere else to turn are the reason why he and about 50 volunteers donated their time to serve lunch on the holy day.
“This is what Easter is all about,” Acaldo said. “It’s about giving, and I can’t think of a better way to give.”
Latasha Bradley, 19, and Carol Stack, 55, said they enjoyed helping people and felt blessed to serve lunch at the dining room.
The pair, who became friends after meeting at a BREC center, volunteered at the dining room once a month for seven years until Bradley started school last fall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Stack said. Since then, they volunteer on holidays when Bradley is back from school on breaks.
“It’s part of our holiday tradition,” said Bradley, who is majoring in anesthesiology.
“For me, the holidays are here,” Stack said of the St. Vincent de Paul dining room.
Stack is a physical trainer at the Women’s Center for Wellness whose family lives in New York.
Dallas Jackson moved to Louisiana from Chicago two years ago to join his son and other family members.
He briefly returned to Chicago in August but returned about two weeks ago and has been staying at the society’s Plank Road shelter, Jackson said.
He has a construction job with steady hours but plans to stay at the shelter — with rates of $3 a day — until he saves more money.
That’s part of the reason why Jackson found himself at the dining room Sunday morning for Easter lunch, he said. And, when nobody else volunteered for the blessing, it’s why he said grace, a response he said he always has ready in case it’s needed.
He thanked Jesus Christ for waking up everyone there in the morning. Then he thanked God for giving them the day.
And, finally, he offered thanks for the meal.
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