PHOENIX — Five hundred pounds of ham, thousands of sweet potatoes, and more vegetables than you can imagine are being prepped inside Saint Vincent de Paul over the next three days.
“A lot of them don’t have any place to go and knowing that they have someplace where they’re gonna be, and we can provide them something, just means the world,” said head Chef Chris Hoffman.
Hoffman says serving more than 4,000 people on Christmas Day takes an army of volunteers. Generous folks like 80-year-old Joe DeLibero provide their time.
“We make about 15 large pies out of this,” said DeLibero kneading dough.
For 20 years, he’s shown up to lend a hand in any way he can. His heart focused on helping bring cheer to those struggling with homelessness.
“I think that’s very important in our society, we can’t just leave people behind,” said DeLibero, who spent his career in education.
“It could be us, a twist in the road, a wrong turn, it could be us, it could be our children and hopefully there’d be somebody out there to help us and our kids,” said volunteer Maureen Cordia.
Cordia is chopping vegetables alongside her husband and says at this point in their lives they live to give, urging others to join in as well.
“It takes a lot of people to put out the amount of food that goes out of here every day,” said Cordia.
“We could certainly use more volunteers,” said DeLibero.
While the Christmas season usually delivers a plethora of additional help, it comes with a steep drop-off in January.
“It’s every day that we do this, not just Christmas not just thanksgiving, we’re in this kitchen providing food and meals to people seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year,” said Chef Hoffman.
So, if you can, give the best gift of all this Christmas, by giving a little of your time alongside them this year.