Each year, members of Holy

Trinity Catholic Church in Peachtree City feed the

homeless of Atlanta in an outreach ministry that involves

over 60 parishioners and runs from early fall to late

spring. Huge quantities of food are prepared, packed into

family vans and driven to the night shelter at Central

Presbyterian Church on Central Avenue in downtown Atlanta

to be distributed to the hungry.

"Jim Creighton started

Holy Trinity's involvement in the outreach about 16 years

ago," says church member Heather Dalton.

Six years ago, when

Creighton was no longer able to continue the work, Mrs.

Dalton and her husband Larry took over the leadership.

More than 40 volunteers

prepare the dinner and sack lunches of sandwiches, juice

and fruit, which are given to the homeless men when they

leave the shelter in the mornings. Although the evening

menu varies, a typical meal consists of lasagna, tossed

salad, garlic bread and apple pie.

In addition to the

40-member cooking team, 12-16 people take the food

downtown and prepare the shelter for the night's guests.

Duties include serving the evening dinner and setting up

cots for the 65 men who will find respite for the night.

They transform the third floor gym at Central

Presbyterian into a dormitory where the men find not only

a good, hot meal, but also a warm welcome and a safe

environment where they can shower and sleep.

A third team of

parishioners spends the night, taking four-hour shifts

and watching to make sure the men are undisturbed during

the night.

At 6:30 a.m. the process is

reversed. Cots are taken down, the area is swept and

cleaned, and the men leave the shelter with their sack

lunches.

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