Christmas dinner donated by church, business
Hope to expand into community foundation
The holidays became a little brighter for one com- munity group last Christ- mas after a local businessman donated Christmas dinner.
Thirkel Freeman, pastor of True Gospel Church Ministries, worked with Ashok Kavi of Rosewick Wine and Spirits in La Pla- ta to provide a donation to the Jude House of Bel Alton to pay for its Christ- mas dinner.
The Jude House, locat- ed in the old Bel Alton School building, is a nonprofit live-in treatment program for individuals in recovery from chemical dependency, and also provides group and family counseling, job search and housing search assistance, social skills building and outpatient care, according to its website.
“It’s invaluable,” Mary Lynn Logsdon, executive director of the Jude House, said of the donation.
Logsdon said the Jude House recently increased its capacity to 61 clients to meet the needs of the community.
“Addiction isn’t glamourous, but it’s here, and it’s killing people, so any help we can get from the community is greatly appreci- ated,” Logsdon said.
Freeman said Kavi, whom he has known for several years, approached him about developing a nonprofit community foundation, and the two looked for a local organi- zation to support.
“We’ve actually been flir ting with this idea for some time, dating this idea, and it was time to finally marry the idea,” Freeman said. “So he [Kavi] called me, a week before Thanksgiving, and said, ‘We’ve got to do this.’”
Freeman and Kavi settled on a donation to the Jude House after touring the facility and meeting with residents and staff.
“We knew that this was the right place to go, the right thing to do,” Freeman said.
Kavi, who is also a trust- ee of the Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association, said he hopes to grow this into a nonprofit foundation to benefit the community.
“We want to take this to a larger scale. We don’t just want to wait until Christmas or Thanksgiv- ing, we want to be able to do this year-round,” Kavi said.
“It has to start some- where, and it has to have someone who takes the initiative,” Freeman added.
Freeman said the foun- dation, with additional community sponsorships, might also provide job assistance or scholarships for youth.
“We have some ideas of things that would be helpful to do in the communi- ty,” Freeman said.
Kavi said he is glad to be able to give back to the community in this way.
“When you’re giving, it brings a long-term happiness,” Kavi said.