2009 Operation Hungry Homeless Christmas Banquet

by Dave McGhee

I and several others from Faith spent about three hours at the 2009 Operation Hungry Homeless Christmas Banquet on Saturday December 12th. This is an annual event in which a number of local churches involved in ministry to the homeless work together to provide a hot meal, access to donated clothing, and some loving attention to some of Huntsville’s most marginalized citizens. This is a sister event to the Homeless Picnic in July that I reported on previously here. The cold wind and impending rain outside contrasted with the warmth and friendliness inside gave ample evidence of the need for such an offering.

St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church organized and hosted the event this year. A number of other churches were also involved. Faith provided drinks and ice as well as about a half dozen bags of clothes. St. Bartley is typically one of the main organizers of this event. This year however they also hosted the event. Faith Church has hosted the event for the past several years but due to the Fellowship hall fire, along with timing and logistics, we could not make that offer this year. This loss was sorely missed within this community of providers. St. Bartley did a magnificent job!

Frank has a wonderful “God thing” story to tell! So if I can’t convince him to share it in this blog, please get him to tell you about it!

Once again, as I did in the summer picnic article, I need to remind us (and myself) to throw out any stereotype ideas we have of the homeless! These were clean, friendly, and very polite folks that could easily be you or I. And to be brutally honest, the worst smell was some alcohol breath which I’m sure you’ve already experienced at one of this year’s Christmas parties. Philip, Billy, Howard, and I helped out with the men’s clothes. We had some time to take stock of what was there and had the pleasure of helping these gentlemen find what they needed. I say gentlemen and I mean it. They were very polite, taking only what they needed, helping each other find what they needed and minding each others bags on occasion. Acquaintances shared greetings and travel tips and points of contact in other cities like Chattanooga and Nashville. Every one thanked us and more than a few wished us blessings and a happy holiday!

Here are a couple observations regarding needs for future clothing donations. Socks are always in high demand! Any Boy Scout or infantryman will tell you dry socks are the key to life. Also there were lots of requests for underwear shorts. With Faith’s resources, I would think that focusing our future clothing contributions on new socks and underwear would be very welcome? As far as men’s pants sizes, 30-34 waist sizes are in high demand.

I almost didn’t go to this event. I knew I had a good experience at the summer picnic, yet these stereotypes we have can have a powerful hold on us. Additionally I am not a great people person and last week was very long week with lots of people interactions that wear me out. These anxieties along with trying to find a new place in a “questionable” neighborhood just about had me convinced not to go. The Lord convinced me to trust in Him and go. And I found myself being very amiable and having a pleasant time! I even started to recognize some faces of folks from St. Bartley. Tim from St. Bartley made me feel very welcome. Thanks Tim! I hope this becomes a regular thing.

In closing, Frank relayed to me that the number of folks served at this banquet peaked a number of years ago at around 400. He shared, that was a particularly good year of cooperation, support, and participation among folks serving this community. This tells me that this need is all about the supply of willing providers. The demand is always high. I heard just recently (I wish I could remember from whom) that the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11), but no where does it say they should be the same poor! In sharing the Kingdom we should be continually helping the poor move ahead.