Food kitchen brings Christmas cheer to St. Joseph

Dec. 25—Volunteers in the St. Joseph community came together to serve those that are less fortunate and hungry for a Christmas lunch on Sunday.

The Open Door Food Kitchen served a meal which included turkey, potatoes, dressing and gravy from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Marsha Rosenthal is the president of the Open Door Food Kitchen board of directors and was also one of the many volunteers for the meal.

This year the program was moved back inside the organizations building at 615 South 8th St.. The meal was previously served outside due to COVID-19.

Rosenthal said that the recent cold weather, she is relieved the event was held inside this year.

"They can come in, socialize with friends and their families...it's much nicer," Rosenthal said.

Lisa Moser, program director, said that the goal of the event from her perspective is to spread joy.

"We want to put a smile on their faces and make them feel good as well," Moser said. "It makes my day go better."

Moser said the Christmas meal is a tradition that has gone on for quite some time.

"The Jewish community helps serve on Christmas and they enjoy it a lot," Moser said.

Throughout the year, the kitchen serves nearly 57,000 people. The donations received for the meals are donated from all over the community including Second Harvest. Rosenthal said that St. Joseph is a very giving community.

"It's just very humbling and makes us very aware of what we have in our city. We have a lot of charities and for a small community... they do an amazing job helping everybody," Rosenthal said.

Meals were also delivered and given to those out in the cold. No matter where people can help, the mission remains the same for Rosenthal.

"According to my religion, we are here to feed the hungry and that's why we are here today," Rosenthal said. "That's what I keep in mind each and every day...it's very important to me."

Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.