THANKSGIVING FEAST FEEDS 1,200 IN ABQ
Citywide Thanksgiving Feast attracts 1,200 people
Annual meal for the homeless and those in need held Wednesday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
For many sitting down for a turkey lunch with all the trimmings on Wednesday, it’s the only Thanksgiving meal they will have.
The annual Citywide Thanksgiving Feast for the homeless and poor attracted more than 1,200 people to the Albuquerque Convention Center who ate in three shifts, said Jeremy Reynalds, founder and CEO of Joy Junction, the state’s largest homeless shelter.
The event, held for the past 15 years, is sponsored by Joy Junction, the city of Albuquerque and convention center management company SMG.
Staffing the food line were about 20 inmate volunteers from the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, who “just wanted to give back something to the community,” said warden Ken Smith.
For diner John Ames, 54, the meal “means quite a bit” because he is unable to prepare such an elaborate meal on his own, he said, and because he can visit with friends.
One of those friends, Mickey Hagg, 61, said he is retired, but not homeless. “My wife passed away and my children are grown up and gone, so I just come here to visit with people and to have a Thanksgiving meal, which I wouldn’t cook at home.”
Angel Romero, 45, is also disabled and lives on a fixed income in an apartment with her three children,
ages 12, 8 and 6. “This meal is very important because it supports us in our effort to feed our kids ... I’m so thankful for this.”
It’s also been a rough year for Rick Webber, 51, who has been homeless for five months after losing his job as a city bus driver.
Gesturing at the people sitting at tables around him and the large number volunteer servers, he observed “it says people in Albuquerque care about the homeless — and there are a lot of homeless people in Albuquerque. Not all of them are bad. Some just experienced circumstances that bring them to this situation.”
Webber, who said he has a degree in applied mathematics from the University of New Mexico, has been staying at local shelters. “This is the first time I’ve ever been homeless and it’s not a good feeling, but if weren’t for things like this meal and the availability of the shelters, I would have been out on the streets and would have no idea what to do. I don’t sleep in parks.”
Lois Beacham, however, said she prefers to sleep outdoors. At 44, she has been homeless “on and off, mostly on” since she was 28.
“I’m pretty sure this is the only Thanksgiving meal I will have, and I’m damn sure it’s the only meal I’ve had for two days. I drink a little and sometimes I get kicked out of the places that serve food. They say I’m disruptive, which is better than saying I’m mentally ill. They say that too. I don’t always drink. Sometime I take drugs, but just to calm me down.”