Milwaukee 'Community Projects for Seniors' Christmas meals for 36th year

MILWAUKEE - They could have spent Christmas morning at home with their own families, but for the 36th year in a row, a Milwaukee nonprofit came together to ensure some of our most vulnerable neighbors were taken care of on Christmas, and it all started with food.

Inside the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, the Christmas morning meal delivery operation looked a lot like Santa's Workshop, but there were no elves here.

"The team is amazing," said Lisa Fohey, Community Projects for Seniors. "The assembly line would impress Henry Ford."

Since 1986, the Milwaukee nonprofit has assembled a Christmas morning meal to deliver to low-income seniors around southeastern Wisconsin. It started with a few hundred meals.

This year's total was over 4,000.

"These are people who not only were so excited to see someone at their door on the holidays, they got a really good meal, and those meals actually last them two to three meals," said Fohey. 

The meals don't just help those who eat them. Julie Leisten has volunteered for six years.

"It warms your heart to be helping your community and giving them meals on the holidays when they could be alone," said Leisten.

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This group teaches a lesson in service and caring for one another that might just be the greatest gift anyone could get on Christmas.

"We're helping people at least have a little bit more of a merry Christmas than they would have without it," said Jacob Hahn, volunteer.

This year's meal included a Salisbury steak, veggies, corn, a roll and dessert, and it's not just a Christmas project. Community Projects for Seniors also prepares and delivers meals on Easter and Thanksgiving.