Wealthy New Yorkers Paid $100 Each To Have A Fancy, Candlelit Dinner With The Homeless
When it comes to Thanksgiving, the latest trend for most Americans isn’t spending time with families and showing gratitude for the blessings one may have. Instead, these people have degenerated Thanksgiving to one of the biggest sale days of the year, one that requires being quite thankless to those around them to attain what they desire.
The Inquisitr reported last Thanksgiving about people optioning for materialism to such a degree that “Santa” himself would berate them for waiting in line in front of a Best Buy on Thanksgiving day, three hours before Thanksgiving dinner.
Despite the onslaught of materialism creeping into a holiday meant for family and friends, there are still people who understand that Thanksgiving isn’t about wanting more, but being thankful for what they have. These people also understand there are others who aren’t as blessed when this time of year comes around. Therefore, some of them — New Yorkers with wealth lining their pocketbooks — spent $100 per person to enjoy a fancy, candlelit dinner with the homeless.
According to the CBS and the Daily Mail, this special dinner was held on Black Friday at St. Bartholomew’s Church located in Manhattan. Started by Rev. Edward Sunderland, it charged $100 to whomever wanted to attend, in which the estimated headcount is about 500 people. It wasn’t mentioned how many were paying patrons and how many were homeless, but it was an amazing night. This is especially true for the regulars who usually attend St. Bartholomew’s soup kitchen, as stated by Sunderland.
“It was magical. All of our soup kitchen regulars came up to me and said how thrilled they were to have more than just a quick turkey dinner.”
St. Bartholomew’s Church surely catered to the highest degree for regalia. Along with the tables being formally prepared, a piano played soft music in the background, and chefs from The New York Palace and The Waldorf-Astoria hotels provided the food, which consisted of roasted turkey, buttered mashed potatoes, red velvet cake, pumpkin cheesecake, and other culinary specialties and delights.
In conclusion, Rev. Edward Sunderland hopes meals in which the fortunate are willing to spend a little more to eat dinner with the less fortunate becomes a trend across America. Sunderland also stated such a dinner is a chance for people to get to know each other in a safe place and for donors to see who benefits from charitable events.
“In ordinary circumstances, people who are not hungry or homeless, don’t know how to interact with other people but if you put a really stunning meal in front of people, in a beautiful space, you give something in common.”
What do you think of St. Bartholomew’s Church’s Thanksgiving dinner sitting the wealthy with the homeless? Do you find it to be a novel idea that surely needs to be mimicked by other churches and organizations across the nation?
[Images via Carolyn Graganc and Larry Neumeister]
