Downtown church’s Christmas effort in need of volunteers
For some, the holidays can be measured by moments, not days, of cheer.
Christmas Day might be especially difficult for those without homes, food or family.
That’s why First Congregational Church Downtown has for more than three decades provided a full day of fellowship, including a hot meal, to as many as 600 needy individuals annually during its Bethlehem on Broad Street program.
This year, event organizers say they need extra volunteers, not only to set up and clean up, but to provide a smile, handshake or words of hope.
“We need volunteer servers and greeters who will welcome guests in an upbeat, positive way,” said Jim Lowe, one of the event coordinators and a long-time volunteer. “In many cases, (guests) would not have a hot meal or even speak to another human being on this day.”
As of Tuesday, an additional 60 volunteers were needed to bring staffing
up to the targeted 148, Lowe said.
Normally held indoors, last year’s event was entirely outdoors, despite 20-degree temperatures and snow, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Food was provided by food trucks.
This year, the Bethlehem on Broad Street festivities will begin Christmas morning inside a 100-foot-long, circusstyle tent with commercial heaters. Food truck vendors still will still do the cooking and provide the meals, Lowe said.
But attendees also will have activities inside the church, including music and a worship service. And volunteers will distribute bags containing gloves, hats, socks, toiletry items and toys.
Everything will be spread out to ensure safety, Lowe said. For example, large round tables capable of seating 10 will be used for just four people at a time inside the tent.
Under these circumstances, more volunteers than usual are needed to monitor crowds and guide people around the facility at 444 E. Broad St.
Volunteers traditionally have arrived early, so that they can spend time later with their families. But this year there is a greater need for helpers throughout the day. Shifts include 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In past years, volunteers spent days leading up to Christmas “buying and roasting turkeys and making deserts,” Lowe said. With health departmentapproved food trucks doing the cooking, volunteers will take on a role that is more social but equally rewarding, he said.
“The feeling of gratitude, of being able to serve other people, is immense,” Lowe said.
Many people from religious backgrounds that don’t celebrate Christmas participate, including those from the Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities. “They come for that ability to serve other people,” Lowe said.
Food vendors and other expenses associated with the nontraditional setup are costly, though. Renting the tent and heaters alone is $5,000, Lowe said. Kroger, Cameron’s Cookies and area Five Below stores are among the sponsors and benefactors helping to defray costs.
The Rev. Tim Ahrens, the church’s senior minister, said there is a misconception that people are helping the
“homeless poor” on Christmas Day.
“The reality is we’re serving those who are lonely, without a place to call home. It’s not just folks on the streets alone,” he said.
Ahrens recalled a woman at a previous Christmas Day event who had lost her foot and vision to diabetes and who spoke to the congregation.
“She just went on and on about how blessed she was to have a place to eat and where people welcomed her,” Ahrens said. “She was proclaiming how good her life was. And I’m holding the mic and tears are rolling down my cheeks. There was a humility in her poverty that I don’t have. It puts it all in perspective.”
Lanier Holt, a Bexley resident who volunteered with his family last year, said the experience was powerful enough that he’s returning this year.
The former newspaper reporter, who now teaches journalism at Ohio State University, said many people may not realize that they are “literally just one accident away from homeless themselves.”
He recalled attending last year’s Bethlehem on Broad Street with his wife, Rachael, and daughters, Ruby, 15, and Naomi, 12, and getting to meet a woman with a young child.
“I realized that their Christmas was going to be different than ours. We were going back to a warm house to open presents. And they were going back to a car to live in,” Holt said.
“Everybody prays for the sick and unfortunate, but how many do anything about it? Faith without works is dead.”
Those who want to volunteer can do so by going online to bethlehemonbroadstreet.org, or call or text Jim Lowe at 614-397-7512. dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso