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Givingthanks: Local volunteers cook and serve Thanksgiving dinner to the inner-cityhomeless
BySUE SUCHYTASundayTimes Newspapers            DETROIT – For the past four years,Paul Armstrong, 21, of Melvindale, rose early Thanksgiving Day to serve turkeydinner to the homeless from 7 to 11 a.m. at Manna House soup kitchen inDetroit.            “A lot of people complain aboutwaking up early in the morning, and all that, but… by the time you get here,all the drowsiness goes away,” he said. “Just the joy of seeing a smile onsomeone’s face, even when you just give them a drink of water – it’s priceless-- it beats sleeping in totally.”            What started out as a socialactivity with Dearborn Sacred Heart parish’s youth group when he was a teen hasturned into an annual Thanksgiving tradition for him and his 19-year-oldbrother Mike.            “I’m helping out people that can’tget a decent meal most of the time,” Paul Armstrong said. “And I’m doing thework that Jesus said. You know, feed the hungry… It really gives me a sense ofjoy knowing that I’m helping someone to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as I usuallywould, and to be honest, I actually like this better than having my ownThanksgiving.”            “Thereare obviously a lot of people in Detroit that need this,” Mike Armstrongadded.              He said as much as he dislikesgetting out of bed before 7 a.m. on a holiday, when he volunteers at MannaHouse he leaves feeling thankful for the blessings in his own life.             “You go away with this really warmfeeling,” Mike Armstrong said. “And you know that (this) is what Thanksgivingis about.”              Manna House, located at Michigan andTrumbull in the basement of St. Peter Episcopal Church in Detroit, began in 1976,with Father Tom Lumpkin, co-manager of the soup kitchen, arriving two yearslater.                                                                                                             Lumpkin, part of the Catholic WorkerMovement, lives at and also runs a shelter for women, Day House, six blocksaway at 2640 Trumbull. He shares soup kitchen and shelter duties with MarianneArbogast, a laic Catholic Worker.             The Catholic Worker Movement workswith very poor people on the fringes of society, addressing social issues and theircauses.            Lumpkin said volunteers from St.Linus parish in Dearborn Heights have been preparing and serving Thanksgivingdinner for the soup kitchen every year since it began. Volunteers from otherparishes, like Sacred Heart in Dearborn, began sending volunteers Thanksgiving morningalmost ten years ago when former St. Linus member Julie Wieleba-Milkie, a20-year attendee, became Sacred Heart’s director of faith formation and youthministry.             Lumpkin said the Thanksgiving mealis very special to their recipients, who usually dine on soup, sandwiches andday-old doughnuts served by rotating area volunteers. He said they serve 150 to200 recipients from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Mon, Tue., Wed., Fri. and Saturdays.             Hesaid he thinks the volunteers are here because it fits with their idea of whatThanksgiving is, and since most have their meal later in the day.             “Instead ofgoing down to the parade, they can come and do this in the morning. It givesthem a way of celebrating Thanksgiving that is appropriate for them, that theywant to do, then they can go back and have their own dinner and stuff withtheir family and friends, so it kind of – it’s just a good day for them… it’s agood way to celebrate Thanksgiving.”             The teenand adult volunteers have mixed reactions to the homeless population MannaHouse serves, Lumpkin said.            “Some… canget turned off by seeing very poor people,” Lumpkin said. “A big chunk of thehomeless population has mental illness; (the volunteers) can sort of befrightened by that… they are definitely venturing out of a comfort zone to comedown here.”              Arbogastsaid besidesserving meals, Manna House provides a place where people can rest and warm upin a safe place for several hours, use a telephone or bathroom, refill a waterbottle or get help with referrals to agencies for shelter or mental healthneeds.            “I guess to me it’s really at thecore of Christian faith,” Arbogast said. “In the Gospel of Matthew, where thequestion asked everyone is ‘I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and yougave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ I think that is what weare trying to live out here, to whatever degree we can.”            Wieleba-Milkie sees the value ofbringing teen volunteers from her youth group to help serve the Thanksgivingmeal in at Manna House.                       “To wake up early on a Thanksgiving morning,on a holiday instead of being able to stay in your jamies and watch the parade,I hope they get a sense of what it really means to be thankful thisThanksgiving Day,” Wieleba-Milkie said. “To give thanks for the fact that theyhave a roof over their heads, that they have a home, that they have a meal thatthey can go home to, because of a lot of these people – even though they mighthave jobs – (might not have) enough income to be able to actually maintain ahome.”            Abigail Burke, 13, of Dearborn andan eighth grader at Sacred Heart School, has been coming to Manna House onThanksgiving morning for five years.             “I just like coming down herebecause I like serving the poor and homeless,” Burke said. It makes me feelbetter – showing that I’ve done something… giving them a better Thanksgiving.”            EmmaAndrus, 13, an eighth grader at Sacred Heart School and a Dearborn Heightsresident, has also been coming to Manna House for five Thanksgivings.            “There areother people besides me that should be fed today,” Andrus said. “I come here overagain because other people also need a good meal on Thanksgiving… and everysingle time I walk out I always feel good about helping others.”                                                                                                                                                   Les Osenkowski, St. Linus parishmember and a 30-year Thanksgiving volunteer, continues even after moving toNorthville.            “I’m rewarded to see all thesebeautiful people get a satisfying meal out of this,” he said.              St. Linus Deacon Jerry Schiffer, director ofChristian service said this has become a Thanksgiving tradition for manyfamilies in the parish.            “Some people will go down to thefootball game today; some people go to the parade – those are great things,”Schiffer said. “We’re blessed to be able to see these people as our guests,people who are in need, and to have an opportunity to serve them… it’s anopportunity for us to live our faith by helping others.”
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Photosby Sue Suchyta
IMG_9632   (1.23 MB)DearbornSacred Heart parish volunteer Abigail Burke (front left), 13, of Dearborn,waits for a Thanksgiving dinner plate to serve from plate preparers AndreaRobinson (second from left) and Gregory Robinson of Westland, a DearbornHeights St. Linus parishioner. Members of both parishes served a Thanksgivingmeal to those in need at Manna House soup kitchen, located in the basement ofSt. Peter Episcopal Church at Michigan and Trumbull in Detroit on Thanksgivingmorning.
IMG_9639   (1.63 MB)DearbornSacred Heart parish volunteers Paul Armstrong (left), 21, of Melvindale, andDanielle Barum, 18, of Dearborn, waits for a Thanksgiving dinner plate to servefrom plate preparers Andrea Robinson and Gregory Robinson of Westland, aDearborn Heights St. Linus parishioner. Members of both parishes served aThanksgiving meal to those in need at Manna House soup kitchen, located in thebasement of St. Peter Episcopal Church at Michigan and Trumbull in Detroit onThanksgiving morning.
IMG_9644   (1.51 MB)DearbornHeights St. Linus parishioner Ed Robinson said he has been volunteering atManna House soup kitchen, located in the basement of St. Peter Episcopal Churchat Michigan and Trumbull in Detroit, on Thanksgiving Day for 19 years, and hisfamily now joins him.
IMG_9646   (709 KB) DearbornSacred Heart parish volunteer Danielle Barum (left), 18, of Dearborn serves a Thanksgivingdinner plate to a recipient at Manna House soup kitchen, located in thebasement of St. Peter Episcopal Church at Michigan and Trumbull in Detroit onThanksgiving morning.
IMG_9648   (0.99 MB)Membersof Dearborn Heights St. Linus and Dearborn Sacred Heart parishes prepared andserved a Thanksgiving meal to those in need at Manna House soup kitchen,located in the basement of St. Peter Episcopal Church at Michigan and Trumbullin Detroit on Thanksgiving morning.