Plenty of plenty in Putnam
CARMEL – A delicious Christmas dinner was served to 125 shut-ins thanks to a small army of volunteers who organized, cooked and delivered meals to those in need on Christmas morning.
Under the supervision of Santa’s chief elf Kathy Quaranta, the fourth annual St. Lawrence O’Toole Parish Christmas program went off without a hitch.
Cooks arrived early and throughout the morning prepared trays of meatballs, lasagna, baked ham, fresh green beans, salad, garlic bread and a variety of desserts which were packaged and placed into colorful holiday bags for delivery.
Quaranta called the tradition a “beautiful gift. We all love helping others who are shut-ins and have no place to go on Christmas. The home cooked meal means so much.”
Around 10 a.m., men, women and children of all ages began their Christmas donation by delivering the goodies to residents of greater Brewster, Carmel, Lake Carmel, Mahopac, Putnam Lake and Patterson.
Olga Garza has been donating her time to the program for the past couple of years. “No more beautiful gift than being able to help others in need by putting a smile on their faces.”
Lorna Leiva called it a “pleasure to give back on Christmas morning. My entire family loves helping others.”
For Mary Gallagher, the annual giving was also a “family tradition. It makes me feel good knowing that my parish has played a small role in making Christmas special.”
Quaranta said area churches and the Department of Social Services provided the names of those in need this holiday season.
