JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Local charities and organizations are keeping busy making sure the homeless have a place to sleep this cold winter night, but there were other groups out in Downtown Jacksonville today making sure the needy didn’t go hungry.
Volunteers with Sister Can You Hear Me spent the morning braving the cold wind with one purpose.
“We just love giving and love serving,” Deborah Williams, Founder of Sister Can You Hear Me, said.
Williams, along with Cyntronia Keitt and Felicia McDuffie, handed out over 100 hot meals to the homeless on Christmas morning.
“The love that God has for us, we use that love as an avenue to help our community,” Keitt said.
The group helps people facing tough times.
“Women that’s going through things, men that’s going through things, let them know that there’s help out here,” Williams added.
If you ask the volunteers, they wouldn’t spend their Christmas any other way.
“It’s a passion. We love what we do. It’s not a job, it’s not really something that we think about doing, we just do it,” Williams explained.
Williams says making a difference in someone’s life -- even with just a hot meal -- is more rewarding than anything else.
“Seeing the smiles on the people’s faces when we hand it out, means a lot,” Williams said.
She founded the organization after noticing a real need in the Jacksonville community.
It’s a need, she says, that has grown even more with how tough 2020 has been thanks to COVID-19.
“We start early and we get it together, we do what we have to do,” Cyntronia Keitt said.
In doing so, the volunteers hope they can spread a little Christmas cheer and comfort this year.