JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The spirit of the season was on full display Thursday morning -- even by those who don’t celebrate Christmas -- as neighbors came together to give back.
One local Jewish congregation stepped up to make sure seniors across the community didn’t go without a warm meal, and that the workers of Aging True, who normally deliver those meals, could have the holiday off with their families.
Sam Hall, COO of Aging True, said the neighbors helping neighbors partnership with Congregation Ahavath Chesed has been going on for more than three decades.
“For over 35 years, we’ve partnered with The Temple to provide these meals on Christmas, and it allows our staff who would be working delivering these meals to be off on Christmas Day,” Hall said.
Rabbi Maya Glasser said it’s a joy for members of the congregation to volunteer their time on Christmas.
“Our Jewish values tell us that each human being is important and special, even those who are homebound and can’t be out and about, so we see this as a day where we can step up and be supportive because, again, we don’t celebrate Christmas, so it’s an opportunity for us to give back to our community,” Glasser said. “We love it. We love being able to support Jacksonville.”
Volunteers were hard at work all morning on Thursday, packing up the warm meals.
“Over here we had some of our students packing candy and drinks for the homebound and they were hard at work putting in some festive cheer for some our seniors out in the community,” Glasser said. “It’s pretty amazing, we are here at the end where we have some of our students who are crimping the boxes so none of the food falls out. We have a well-rounded meal, we have vegetables, potatoes and some chicken, all fresh food that’s been made in our kitchen.”
Hundreds of meals were given out on Christmas Day, along with cookies for first responders.