This past Christmas holiday season came through for many local residents, including an Albuquerque-area man who is no stranger to homelessness, thanks to a nonprofit.
Last month's annual Joy Junction celebrations included the pre-Christmas dinner on Monday, Dec. 20, and on Christmas Day at Joy Junction's shelter on 2nd St Southwest, in addition to the Convention Center Feast on Dec. 18. Christmas Day toy opening and meal attendee Gerald Hannahs told a local news outlet how the even made the holiday all the happier for him.
Joy Junction CEO Elma Reynalds
| joyjunction.org/
"I have my children with me, and I haven't seen my children for three years," Hannahs told KOAT.
Joy Junction's annual holiday events also took away some of the worries the homeless routinely endure in the greater-Albuquerque area, at least for a little while.
"Just everybody's worries about being out on the streets," he said. "You know, I was there last year on the streets. I work the guard shack, so I've seen all the presents coming in all day, every day. All the donations that people bring to just wonderful people out there in Albuquerque."
The meal that day was a hearty one, baked ham topped with cherry sauce, mashed potatoes, a dinner roll and green beans, followed by a desert of pie topped with whipped cream.
One child expressed happiness over a Captain America and Batman toy, "a huge one," unwrapped during the Christmas Day event.
"The kids are having a great time, and all their wishes came through what they put on their wish list," Joy Junction CEO Elma Reynalds told KOAT.
Families create wish lists prior to the Christmas Day event, well before Santa arrives in his sleigh.
Joy Junction is a 501(c)(3) faith based nonprofit church organization founded in 1986 that offers refuge to area homeless men, women, children and families, providing food, clothing, shelter and safety. Joy Junction provides more than 200,000 meals per year, shelters up to 350 people each night and up to 80 children every day, according to information on the organization's website.
Joy Junction receives no city, state or federal funding but relies solely on charitable donations, including volunteer time, money and food.