A family tradition

Carolyn Hudson, the oldest of five, decided she wanted to spend time with her young family in 1985. She had taken care of her siblings and her grandparents after her parents died, and always prepared the holiday meal.

She and her husband, Mike, went to Hancock in the Upper Peninsula for Christmas where her brother worked for a nonprofit organization, Little Brother — Friends of the Elderly. They and their daughters served dinner to recovering alcoholics. They enjoyed the snow.

“It was something as a family, the four of us. It was like an old-fashioned Christmas,” Carolyn Hudson said.

And they got hooked on service as their family holiday tradition.

The next year they held a community Thanksgiving dinner at their home with 10 guests. They’ve done it every year since.

“It’s a family tradition, three generations, us our kids and grandkids,” said Mike Hudson, who helps coordinate three community holiday meals at St. Gerard — Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

The Hudsons moved the community meal to their parish, St. Gerard Catholic Church on West Willow Highway in 1987. There are upwards of 90 volunteers each year.

“The theory is nobody should be home alone regardless of economic background on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter; not the day before or the day after,” said Mike Hudson. “We serve it family style. We get out the round tables. We use real dishes and silverware and candles.”

The couple flips through a stack of photos recalling names and faces over the years. They point to a man smiling next to an elderly lady.

“He rode his bike every year,” said Carolyn Hudson.

“Oh, she passed on a few years back,” said her husband about a woman in another photo.

They share stories about volunteers who have helped pay utility bills, or drivers who ended up visiting guests even after the holidays.

The church pays for the dinners. Demand has consistently increased year after year.

“During the recession it started getting big and It sort of hasn’t backed off,” Mike Hudson said. Volunteers help assemble bags of personal items to give the guests.

Hudson said he enjoys watching children help and ask questions.

“Mommy why do we give them toilet paper?” Hudson recalls one child. “They have to explain to them why. It’s a learning experience as we do it for all of us.