Holiday Express Comes to Newark, Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year. The start of the new year will usher in a new decade and mark the last Christmas celebration of the 2010s. The past few years have brought changes, both to St. John’s and Newark. However, our collaboration with Holiday Express remains the same. The Holiday Express Christmas celebration at St. John’s is the culmination of combined efforts from two dedicated organizations, giving to those that need it the most. We’d like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy Christmas schedule to help serve, prepare the tent and the meal for the celebration. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you know how much you are appreciated, both by St. John’s and our guests.

Set up involved a lot of people, and the process was overwhelming. Much like last year, Holiday Express descended upon St. John’s like a whirlwind and in a moment they had everything set up. They really are professionals, everyone knew what to do and where to go, and exactly how to set everything up. It’s magic in a way, when so many people are coordinated in a one task. It’s mesmerizing to watch and I’m happy I was there to witness it. Each group had a station that they were responsible for and within an hour, the preparations were made ready. The time and come and we were ready to sing, dance and eat!

Lunch was to start at 11:00AM and people had started coming first thing in the morning. However, while our friends from Holiday Express were preparing, people had been lining up. Patiently waiting for the wonderful food and festivities that awaited them. While our guests waited patiently, St. John’s distributed some food in an effort to hold everyone over. There wasn’t any fear that people would go hungry, as Holiday Express came prepared. The head chef was thorough, and brought plenty, enough for 750 servings. We almost went through all of it! The only thing we had left were a few trays of pasta, everything else had been eaten.

Thank you to all the chefs who prepared the food and the people who helped plate and serve. Smiles were seen all through the tent, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who sat down and ate. It may seem like a small gesture, but for a lot of people who attended our celebration the gesture has a lot of meaning. For our guests, it shows that people do care about their welfare and there are people in the world that will go the extra mile for them. Sometimes that can make the difference in someones day.

After our guests ate and sang, they were invited to pick up a care package being offered by Holiday Express. Each care package was tailor made for the person getting it. We had specialized packages for each age group, boys and girls received a unique gift bag while the men and women received different gift bags still. This way, we were able to give something that was a little more personal for the guest getting it. Inside the bag was filled with things we thought they would find useful. It’s a great gift, and having a shoulder bag is always useful!

So much happened at the kitchen on Christmas Eve, that all the pictures won’t fit here! If you’d like to see those pictures click here and here! Thank you so much to Holiday Express and we’ll see you next year, in the new decade. Hopefully bringing another decade of cooperation between our two organizations. Thank you everyone! Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!