Volunteer’s smile brightens Salvation Army Thanksgiving
While most Lodi citizens will be bustling in their kitchens or throwing a football around the yard with the kids today, one woman will join volunteers at the Salvation Army Hope Harbor shelter to provide a holiday meal to anyone who comes in the door.
For the past nine years, Patricia Fehling’s Thanksgiving holiday has been spent standing in the doorway of the shelter, greeting people and families as they come in for a warm, hearty meal.
She chirps, “Hello!” and “Happy Thanksgiving!” and asks how many people are in their group. The diners tell her, and she flashes a hand signal to one of the many floating helpers around the room. The helper finds a place for the group to sit and Fehling sends them on her way. Then she turns with a bright smile to the next group at the door and ushers them inside out of the cold.
Fehling insists she is just one of the team, and loves that Lodi is such a caring community.
“I do this because those people have no family. We, who are blessed with family, can be their extended family,” she said. “Some of them just haven’t had a chance.”
Fehling wakes up early at her Lodi home and dresses in long johns and pants for warmth.
She arrives at the shelter at 9:30 a.m. and offers help in the kitchen, whether it’s slicing pies or loading deliveries for shut-ins who will receive a warm meal.
At 11 a.m., she takes her position at the door and begins welcoming people in. She will remain there for at least three hours.
Fehling especially loves helping with the Thanksgiving meal because it feeds families who are not able to provide a traditional holiday dinner for themselves.
“Homeless people and marginalized families come at Thanksgiving because they can’t afford to do this big meal,” she said. “I love seeing the families with children, because it means they are getting a good meal today.”
Fehling has volunteered with the Salvation Army for nine years. She started in 2007, after her husband passed away and she sold
her consulting firm where she worked as a food scientist.
Fehling began by helping homeless women. She met a fellow Episcopalian woman who was homeless and helped her get settled in Stockton.
Today, Fehling is a member of the Lodi SA chapter’s advisory board, and committee chairwoman of the culinary arts school.
“I love the culinary program because I love working with food and because the program provides people with a profession. They can go to work,” she said.
Fehling is also a former disaster responder with the Red Cross. Today, she is a cochair of emergency disaster services for the Salvation Army.
In the aftermath of two wildfires last year, she took a group to the site where evacuees were gathered, to pray with them and provide food.
Fehling makes time later in the day to be with her own family. She drives out to Linden where her daughter lives and grabs a plate of leftovers to enjoy. If things get busy, she will celebrate the holiday with her family on another day.
“Who said Thanksgiving had to be on Thursday? Or Christmas had to be on the 25th?” she said. “If I don’t celebrate life and the giving spirit of Christmas more often, then I am negligent.”