A helping hand for the holidays
Local woman doing her daily best to make sure city’s have-nots have a little something — whether it be a jacket or a warm meal
WOONSOCKET — When the city’s biggest and best-known soup kitchen at All Saints Church abruptly closed this fall, a group of concerned volunteers stepped up their efforts to provide the hungry and poor with a daily meal somewhere else – World War II Veterans Park.
One of them was Ilanna Ball, a local businesswoman.
Preparing meals at home, she drove to the park around noon at least a couple of days a week, delivering food to dozens of individuals and families.
“Men, women and children,” says Ball. “Absolutely, some are working poor. Not everybody’s homeless. It might just be a decision between paying the rent and buying food.” The owner of Finest Real Estate is still at it, even though a new soup kitchen, New Beginnings, was recently established to fill the void left by the demise of Because He Lives. Ball delivers food to the park on Fridays because New Beginnings is only open for midday meals at All Saints Church Mondays through Thursdays.
Now Ball is expanding her outreach to the needy with what she envisions as a new, holiday tradition – a Christmas Eve Dinner. With help from River Falls Restaurant, educational organizations and nonprofits, Ball has organized the first dinner to be held at the Woonsocket Boys and Girls Club, 72 Kendrick Ave., from 4 to 7 p.m. on Dec. 24.
Ball said she came up with the idea in order to fill a void in the holiday safety net for the needy.
“We found numerous places for people to receive meals either on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but not on Christmas Eve,” said Ball.
A member of the Boys and Girls Club board of directors, Ball said River Falls is donating 100 meals for the event. She has also received donations of toiletries, blankets, clothing and other giveaways for the occasion from Good Shepherd School and a number of local businesses. She had fliers printed up to advertise the event, dropping them off at Community Care Alliance and low-income housing developments to spread the word.
Besides the food, participants may have souvenir family pictures taken at the event and enjoy other entertainment. Organizers have arranged kid-friendly activities and “other surprises.” Ball expecting at least 100 guests for the inaugural dinner – an occasion she hopes will only get bigger in the years ahead.
“It’s going to be nice,” she says. “We will have tons of food and to-go containers so people can feel free to take some leftovers with them.”
Ball, who runs not just the city-based real estate company but an affiliated property management and construction firm, Total Asset Solutions, says the charitable initiative is her way of supporting a community where she is a stakeholder.
“I’ve been very blessed,” she says. “I’m able to give back and I enjoy giving back. I’m very invested in the city.”
At World War II Park on a recent Friday, Stephany Santos and her boyfriend, Frank Polke, were among a small throng of people who picked up a bag of food from Ball’s hatchback. A mother of two, Ball was there with her husband, Charles Coulbourn.
“I think she’s pretty awesome,” said Santos.
Santos went on to show how she and Polke are living out of their van, opening up the back of the vehicle to display a makeshift bedroom. They used to a have a residence in the city, but now they park the vehicle wherever they’re allowed, “Walmart, places like that,” to spend the night, Santos said.
Ball’s commitment to the needy at World War II Park actually predates the loss of Because He Lives in September, when founding director Patricia Dempster retired. She began providing meals at the park several months earlier after reaching out to Andrea Smith of Help the Homeless Rhode Island. Smith was already dispensing meals at the park from a vehicle and Ball learned of her efforts from a post on Facebook.
Ball says the need for help with basics such as food, clothing and rental assistance is prevalent throughout the state.
“Rhode Island has the highest number of people using food stamps in New England,” she says.
Ball admires Smith’s passion for helping the needy, saying, “If she had her druthers she would eradicate homelessness in all of Rhode Island.”
The Christmas Eve dinner is free and open to anyone who wants to attend. Ball says donations and volunteers are still needed and anyone who wants to pitch in should get in touch with her.
She can be reached at 401-419-7116 or, via email, at finestpropertymanagement@gmail.com for more details.