Morgan Hill residents reach out to the less fortunate
Morgan Hill – ‘Tis the season to remember that giving is better than receiving, at least for many in Morgan Hill who made sure some less fortunate families enjoyed a Thanksgiving celebration.
To kick off the holiday season, students in the Morgan Hill School District held a canned food drive during November, and on Monday, students sorted the collected cans to make large Thanksgiving boxes for 125 needy families in the district. Each box weighed approximately 70 pounds. Each family was also given a turkey and an additional large bag of groceries.
Morgan Hill Lions Club members and students delivered the food to the families on Wednesday.
More folks received food on Wednesday night, ushering in the holiday season.
The parish center at St. Catherine Church was filled with music and laughter as volunteers prepared 20 turkeys and served a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for Morgan Hill dayworkers.
“Definitely an event like this can help distract you from loneliness,” said Isaias Siney from Guatemala who has been in Morgan Hill for three months, leaving behind a wife and four children. “It gives us an opportunity to make new friends, to build new relationships.”
Pascual Bernal agreed, saying he enjoyed the opportunity to spend the time with the other workers.
While Daniel Alvarran said that gathering together was good and helped combat loneliness, he added that nothing could make the hurt of being apart from families completely go away.
The beneficiaries of the feast are not the only ones who get something from the event; the volunteers say their spirits are lifted when they help out.
“This is my personal devotion,” said Aaron Ragasa, a parishioner who has cooked and served at the feast for seven years. “I am thankful for my family, that we have food on our table, and this is one way I can say thank you.”
Several kids came to lend a hand during the event, including Franky Palmer, 12, volunteering for the third year. He also brought along his friend, Austin Carvalho, 11.
“I called him before I went and told him, ‘You should come,’” Franky said. “It makes you feel good to be here.”
Austin said he liked helping others and would participate again next year.
Marta Valle, a longtime St. Catherine parishioner, said her mother and her grandmother taught her as a young child that giving to others, reaching out a helping hand, is an important part of life.
“We were fortunate. We had enough for ourselves, but I learned that you don’t waste anything,” she said. “We would save a little bit of string and use all that we collected to make a ball for a child that didn’t have one. I believe when you can help someone else, it would be a waste not to.”
Valle’s thrifty habits take her to Safeway each morning, where she picks up the bread and baked goods that would otherwise be thrown away.
“It’s still good, and people who need it, who don’t have many resources, they are happy to have it,” she said. “I tell them, ‘Take what you need, but only that, not more.’ That way, many people can have some of it.”
Valle and Fr. Gene O’Donnell organized the night before Thanksgiving feast so the dayworkers she took coffee to on Saturday mornings could enjoy a hot meal.
“We all want to help someone, and this seemed like a good thing to do, especially at this time of the year,” she said. “And we have added to it, like we now have music and we have a raffle.”
There are enough raffle items – gloves, hats, towels, personal care items – that everyone can take something home. Valle and her committee gather the items throughout the year, some of them donated, some they buy.
Valle was quick to point out that she does not do the work alone, that there are many volunteers who participate in the cooking and the cleaning and the serving, as well as gathering the raffle items. She said the people who make the event happen are a special group.
“They want to reach out to others,” she said. “When you do something from your heart, it makes you feel good.”
