November 29th, 2006 by: Ashley Cecil Email this to a friend

Bowery Mission provides holiday meal to New York’s homeless

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8″ x 10″ oil on canvas, $220
SOLD
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The thousands of homeless New Yorkers must find Thanksgiving a confronting holiday. I suppose the saying, “things could be worse” is technically always true, but on a day when families gather around a table of lavish and indulgent dishes in the loving comforts of a home, being on the streets, cold, estranged, and maybe battling a challenge, such as addiction, is hard to swallow.Through my work and interests, I have learned a fair amount about homelessness, how people find themselves in such a predicament, policy, systems, and programs that address the issue, and ones that seem to enable it. I’ve heard multiple opinions about homelessness, but even those with little general sympathy have a heart for the percentage who truly are victims of circumstances, such as children. An organization like the Bowery Mission in New York City, serving thousands of homeless individuals and families in various capacities, would certainly have a wide array of clients for any interested volunteer or sponsor.

Although the Bowery Mission serves multiple meals to their clients everyday of the year, Thanksgiving is especially busy. I left the comforts of the Beatles’ musical words of happiness, an on-going supply of gourmet food, and great company to share the experience of Thanksgiving with the Bowery Mission’s 2pm dinner crowd. An enormous and flawless team of staff and volunteers in red aprons served food and love in a perfectly orchestrated masterpiece of goodwill. A young boy with a kippah served dinner to woman wearing a hijab, and a gray-haired woman brought a plate to a toddler, all inside a chapel-turned-dinning-hall.

I came back to John Lennon and Wi-Fi feeling a bit awkward about eating the gourmet cheese and dried fruit.

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Filed under Homelessness, Nonprofit

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