NORTHAMPTON — As the snow died down and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, many gathered inside the basement of Edwards Church for a Christmas meal Monday afternoon.
Plates were filled with roast pork loin, potatoes and asparagus at the meal run by the nonprofit MANNA Soup Kitchen. Another table was filled with desserts such as cakes, cookies and homemade apple crisp.
Lee Ann Masloski, 60, loaded her plate and dug in.
Underneath the table, her dogs — Chipotle, a Chihuahua, and Kananii, a terrier mix — nibbled on bits of food that Masloski lay on a small china plate.
“They just had most of my pork,” Masloski said with a smile as the dogs looked up at her, eyeing her for more food.
Masloski, who sets up a shelter out in the woods of Northampton, said she’s spending Christmas with her “street family.” She said they are in the same boat as her.
“You can find a lot more love out here than you realize,” she said about the Christmas meal.
Masloski attends many of the meals MANNA runs throughout the week, but the Christmas meal was more than she expected, she said, adding that she teared up with joy when she saw how beautiful the dessert buffet was.
“They really make you feel special.”
MANNA has been providing meals since 1986. Carl Erickson, longtime president of the MANNA Board of Directors, said the soup kitchen has been hosting the Christmas meal for 11 years, stepping in after the Honor Court stopped its annual holiday meal.
Over 100 people came out to the meal at Edwards Church on Monday and volunteers delivered 140 meals to homes across Northampton, Erickson said. It takes about 200 volunteers to prepare and carry out the meal, he added.
Lee Anderson, the head chef for MANNA, started the day at 4 a.m. preparing the garlic bread and the rosemary, garlic and olive oil rub for the pork. He said the group prepared 120 pounds of pork for the meal.
The meal brought a variety of people together, including some who may have spent the Christmas alone.
Helen Hill, 61, of Northampton, said no buses were running on Christmas day, so there was no way for her to see her daughter out in Amherst.
Hill said she didn’t want to be alone for the holiday, so she walked over from the Michael’s House to Edwards Church wearing a Santa hat, Santa earrings and a red sweater. A friend at the meal gave her a pair of black, glittery gloves as a gift.
“You can’t be depressed when you’re here,” Hill said.
For some, the dinner was a chance to warm up from the freezing temperatures.
Richard Lefrancois, 48, said he stays in a shelter during the night, but has to leave at 7 a.m. Since it was Christmas, Lefrancois said they let everyone stay for one extra hour.
With the snow falling hard Monday morning, Lefrancois said he stopped by a gas station for hot coffee to warm up.
“It’s been cold,” he said, still wearing his winter coat as he ate his meal.
Andre Desjardins, 38, also stays at a shelter and said it’s been hard to stay warm throughout the day. Before the meal, he hung out with some friends at McDonalds, but didn’t have money for anything to eat.
He said he has family in Chicopee, but feels like a “black sheep.” As he sat with a friend at the community meal, Desjardins finished up a piece of cake before he ventured back out into the cold.
This Christmas was different for 16-year-old Jack Burch and his parents, who volunteered for the meal. Burch, a Northampton High School student, made runs between the kitchen and the dining room, making sure food on the buffet was stocked up.
“I felt like it would be a good thing to do during the holidays,” Burch said about helping out the soup kitchen.
He added that for many years, Christmas for him was filled with lots of presents and food. This year, Burch said he wanted to do something different and his parents happily joined him.
Others were feeling generous as well.
New York resident Joe Fiore came up to Northampton to visit his partner Roger Caouette for the holidays. They came out to the meal on Christmas and each handed a MANNA volunteer a $20 bill.
They’ve been attending for the past few years and said they like to see the community come together to help each other. The couple said it’s the “spirit” of the event that attracts them every year.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.