Sharing Holiday Joy : Homeless Get Free Meals as Yule Spirit Prevails

When Gloria Pineida and her two sons went for a walk to the store on Christmas morning, they didn’t expect to find themselves sitting at a table inside Festival Hall in downtown Santa Ana, enjoying a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

But that’s what happened when the family stumbled upon a free Christmas dinner for more than 2,000 low-income or homeless people, sponsored by employees of the Santa Ana Unified School District and a host of other charitable organizations. The free meal was one of several held throughout the county Tuesday.

“We were passing by and we saw that there was a dinner. It was a nice surprise,” said Pineida, 36, who works as a maid at a hotel and lives with her sons in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Ana.

For Pineida’s 13-year-old son, Miguel, the party not only meant dinner, it meant presents. The Carr Intermediate School eighth-grader’s face beamed as he was handed a brand-new basketball by a volunteer just after finishing his meal.

The event was the brainchild of Willard Intermediate School Principal Howard Haas and McFadden Intermediate School Principal Al Aitcheson, who felt there wasn’t enough being done for the less-fortunate on Christmas Day.

“I think there were more poor people than we realized,” said Haas, who monitored the line that began forming around the building at 10:30 a.m.

Ricardo Chavarria, 21, brought several of his cousins to the meal. He shares a one-bedroom house in Santa Ana with 13 relatives, and the brand-new toys handed out at the party were their only gifts this year.

“This party is very beautiful,” Chavarria said in Spanish. “It’s the first time the children get a gift, and they have food and everybody gets to be together.”

In addition to hungry families, the dinner also drew more than 350 volunteers who served food and drinks, handed out presents or acted as waiters.

Among the volunteers were Tustin residents Rod and Pamela Propst and their children, Ryan, 11, and Rosanne, 7. The family spent the afternoon serving food and drinks after attending morning Mass.

“We’re trying to show the children that the true meaning of Christmas is helping other people,” Pamela Propst said. “This is a good experience for them.”

Haas said the number of volunteers was “amazing.”

“We had people come out of the woodwork to help,” he said. “We had many more people than we needed, which goes to show you that miracles really do happen.”

By 2:30 p.m., organizers were in danger of running out of food. The slices of bread once being served with meals had been replaced by corn tortillas and the last of 94 turkeys was being sliced.

“It surprised us that there were so many people, so many families who needed the help this Christmas,” said Ricardo Pena, director of Pena Referral Center, one of the event’s co-sponsors.

There was plenty of food in Westminster, where a free meal at Bob’s Burgers on Beach Boulevard had only drawn about 40 people before noon. But organizer Judy Young of Orange County Christian Businesses and Associates said her organization was expecting to feed at least 1,000 people before the day was over.

Seal Beach resident Doris Lowrie, 78, was one of the first to show up at Bob’s Burgers for the meal, which consisted of ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, rolls and pie. Lowrie and her neighbor, John Denton, 73, found out about the free meal from a friend.

“It’s nice to be able to get out of the house when you’re alone,” Lowrie said. “I don’t have any family--I’ve outlived them all. So, it’s just a real delight to be here and to meet all these nice people.”

Leon Germaine, a 40-year-old homeless man, said he came to Bob’s Burgers because “I had nowhere else to go.”

Germaine said he has been living in the streets of Orange County for 23 years and has rarely been able to enjoy a hot holiday meal.

“This is the first time I’ve ever come to anything like this, and I think it’s great,” he said. “I think it’s great that they’re doing this, but we need more help at other times during the year.”

In Garden Grove, more than 400 people showed up for a free holiday meal served at Garden Grove United Methodist Church. The meal, which consisted of ham and turkey with all the trimmings, was sponsored by Real Help, a Garden Grove-based charitable organization that feeds the hungry five times a week.

The event drew many of the organization’s regular clientele. But some people, like 30-year-old Tim Housley, took the bus down to the church because he said the lines at some of the Santa Ana dinners were too long.

“I don’t think Christmas dinner can get much better than this,” Housley said between forkfuls of turkey and mashed potatoes.

Jill Mullis, 35, sipped on hot coffee as her two sons, D.J., 7, and Jessy, 4, ate the last bites of their turkey and stuffing.

This Christmas has been a special one for the Anaheim family because it finally has a place to call home. After five years of living in motel rooms, they were able to move into their first one-bedroom apartment three weeks ago.

“It took every penny I have just to get us into that apartment, so something like this meal is so fantastic,” said Mullis, who is a single parent.

“This really makes a difference around the holidays for people who are on a fixed income,” Mullis said. “We wouldn’t be able to have any kind of special meal if we hadn’t come here today.”