The Pine Street Inn opened its doors for it's annual Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, giving people a taste of a home cooked meal and celebrating the progress in helping people find a home of their own.
"It’s a special day of the year for everybody but it’s especially challenging for anyone who is homeless because Thanksgiving is all about family and if they are here, they are probably not with family so it means that much more to them" said chef Frank Van Overbeeke.
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The meal has been in the works for days, with volunteers making sure Pine Street Inn can provide all the fixins for around 2,000 guests.
On Thanksgiving morning, they had a few extra helping hands, including Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
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"I think everybody deserves that feeling of family, having a place to go and being able to have some Thanksgiving food on a day like this" said McAvoy.
"In Greater Boston right now, about 9% of the folks who are in shelter that are long term homeless. We’re about 9%, the national average is 22% so we’ve done really good job bringing those numbers down thanks to so many people in this room" said Lyndia Downie, Executive Director Pine Street Inn, thanking supporter for helping reduce homelessness year-round.
Behind those numbers, there are stories like Mayra De Jesus.
This summer, she graduated from Pine Street's job training program and soon she will be moving out of the shelter into brand new housing.
"I’m going to moving into my own place, hopefully by Christmas I’ll be in there, so I’m like so excited and Pine Street is like my second family so just to go through this journey with them and have them for support in my back its all the best." said De Jesus.
When turkey day is done, and the special guests have gone, the work continues every day to help everyone find their own home sweet home.
