Supplying hundreds of needy South County families with a warm meal, winter jackets, toys, photos with Santa and a bag of groceries has become a holiday tradition for volunteers who attend the Morgan Hill chapter of the Cathedral of Faith.
“There’s a tremendous need,” said Josie Scott, a lead organizer for the Cathedral’s outreach arm that spent months fundraising and putting the recent holiday event together. “We are seeing more homeless families with children, so this year our focus is on the children.”
The theme for the seventh-annual event, made possible by countless “I Love Morgan Hill” volunteers and held Dec. 15 at the Community and Cultural Center on the edge of downtown Morgan Hill, was “You Belong Here.”
“We just want to show them that people do love them and they are not alone and that there’s hope,” said the cheerful Scott, who has dedicated herself to helping those less fortunate through her outreach work.
On Friday early afternoon, hundreds of needy families lined up outside the CCC hours before the event was set to begin. Scott said she was taken aback when some even asked if they could help with anything while they waited outside in the brisk temperatures.
“This year, we want everyone to feel like they belong in our community. We treat them like family,” said Pastor Gary Palacios, whose Morgan Hill chapter has grown to more than 250 strong since it was established nine years ago as part of a much larger 12,000-member national movement.
After filling out a registration form, including contact information and family size, attendees were served up a hot holiday meal—donated by San Jose-based Martha’s Kitchen—while festive holiday music set the mood in the city’s 4,030-square-foot banquet room. On the menu this year was chicken stew, pork stew, peas, carrots, fruit and quinoa salad, which volunteers started preparing hours earlier.
“Some of us sit down with them because we want to learn what their need is and what we can do to help,” continued Palacios, whose members then use that information for their future outreach plans.
After dinner, families made their way to the toy room, where special gifts were passed out to the children. Winter jackets were available in an adjacent room. The special night also included a trip to Santa’s Village, where families were treated to photographs with Santa along with free printouts.
“There’s a lot of needs out there,” said Pastor George Guerrero, a retired San Jose firefighter. “There are many people here in Morgan Hill who have lost their job in the past year and could use a helping hand this season. This is what we do.”
After exiting the community center but before heading home for the night, guests were able to pick up a bag of groceries filled with staples and other goodies from the Second Harvest Food Bank.
The organizers worked with about an $11,000 budget this season, with the largest donation coming via Morgan Hill-based Golden Eagle Mortgage Group—which is owned by Pauleen Amstutz.
Robin Tokiwa, the group’s bargain shopper, purchased 450 winter jackets and 575 toys for the event. When families register prior to entering the facility, the “I Love Morgan Hill” volunteers take that information, bring it to the toy room and fill a bag with gifts that match the ages and gender of their children.
“This is a community-based organization, so it’s imperative that we get assistance from our community to be able to provide for these families,” said Tokiwa, a retired San Jose police officer.
The holiday dinner and giveaway is just one of the many outreach events organized by the Cathedral of Faith, including its family harvest food program where a free dinner is served on the second Tuesday of each month at the CCC.
“It’s always nice to be able to provide (for needy families),” said Abby Assefa, who along with husband Tenbit Daniel, were in charge of the logistics for the Dec. 15 event. “It is a blessing that the church is able to do that.”
