There were so many reasons not to do it. It’s on Christmas Day. It’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to be expensive. It will take away volunteers from their families. Where are you going to cook the food? How will you transport the food? Who’s going to pay for the gifts? The list went on.
Undeterred, 12 Knights of Columbus from Councils 6906, 11485 and 11743 teamed up with family, friends and Hawaii Food Bank to bring a little Christmas cheer to the 350 residents at Institute for Human Services.
This team effort, operating from three locations, cooked and served a complete Christmas dinner of turkey, potatoes, gravy, rolls, green beans, salad and pumpkin pie.
Santa also stopped by the women and children’s shelter to talk with the 51 children there and to hand out gifts provided by the Knights and many generous donors.
Special thanks go to JCS Enterprises for helping out with shirts for volunteers, St. Elizabeth Good Samaritan Ministry and the Hawaii Food Bank for providing 28 turkeys (407 pounds).