The list of Christmas Day volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul stops at 150.
The limit isn’t due to a lack of people willing to sacrifice their holiday to service. The shelter coordinators cap the roster at 150 because, despite dozens of additional volunteers, they can’t physically fit any more into the cafeteria.
Almost three decades into his career with St. Vincent de Paul, CEO Michael Acaldo says in a feature in 225 that he is still awed by community turnout.
“I’ve been here for 26 Christmases, and I’ve seen families come in to volunteer for generations,” Acaldo says. “It’s just tremendous to see.”
Most of us will never experience hunger and helplessness during the holidays. But while we cozy up with new toys and full stomachs, hundreds migrate from downtown streets for a hot meal at St. Vincent de Paul. Acaldo estimates the shelter served 800 to 1,000 people last Christmas.
Each guest—the volunteer team makes a point to refer to visitors in need as guests—is greeted with a “Merry Christmas,” seated at a cafeteria table and served dishes of the home-cooked feast by volunteers, plates delivered restaurant-style to each seat. Other volunteers dine with the guests, offering hugs and warm words, while even more give out gifts and coats to children. Christmas brings more families to the shelter than any other day of the year, and for many of these children, these will be the only gifts they receive for Christmas.
The holiday rush would be impossible, Acaldo says, without their army of volunteers. Some have returned every Christmas for decades, while others are newer, but they all say the same thing: They’ll be back this year and every year that follows.
Take the Dorniers. At only 6 years old, Bailey Dornier began trading hours of Christmas Day for serving food and passing out gifts. Now 16 and a sophomore at Catholic High, he’s still happy to have spent part of every Christmas for the past 10 years volunteering at the shelter with his mother, Lynley.
“The gifts are probably the best part. Christmas is always a fun time, but it’s great to see smiles on people’s faces that you caused,” Bailey says. “I remember one year handing them out, and the little kids were so happy just to be getting something instead of nothing. I was like, ‘I don’t want anything for Christmas this year.’ I wanted to give everything I had to them.”
