Phoenix Teams Up with The Society of St. Vincent De Paul to Feed over 700 Displaced Arizonans

The Society of St. Vincent De Paul has 15 powerful programs to help feed, clothe, house, and heal people experiencing homelessness in Northern and Central Arizona. On Friday December 10th, 2021, CTCI Americas (CTCIA) employees volunteered to help make a difference in their community. Tasks like: setting up the event, serving food, bussing tables, handing out raffle tickets, helping guests, and end of the day clean up. Our community engagement program, at CTCI, is focused to support local communities and those with most needs. Our employees are also commitment to spent time out of work and be part of making a difference in the society we live in.

The First Volunteering Service by CTCI Americas

This was the first event held by the CTCIA employees in Phoenix, Arizona, one of many more to come. Our team was readily available at 8:45am and guided by Mr. Tony from St. Vincent De Paul. Tony was able to explain the planning and logistic involved but most important the value we bring in helping them. Tony has been volunteering for the past 9 years and his passion was clearly reflected in his words.      

We started by splitting into two teams, one focused on packaging small bags, Ziplock, with all the utensils such as cutlery, salt, pepper, napkins and the second team with setting up the table, chairs, water jugs and food tickets. As the task went along, we were able to interact personally amongst ourselves and get to know the team better. In front of us was a major task still to go but we were all ready for it. We then moved to the second task of filling bags with various Christmas notes – written by children wishing happy holidays. This was a very emotional moment as most of the team were reading out loud these wonderful notes as we completed our task and the notes.

Just before the food arrived, around 11am, we were able to break out for 15 min and enjoyed an unplanned Charade game set up by Tony. The game consisted in two teams and each team needed to select a person whose goal was to call out the words, name, characters, movies, etc. based on word(s) displayed on a screen and his team providing clues without disclosing the word itself – lots of excitement before the challenge in front of use.

The real work was about to commence. At 11:20am, the food and drinks commenced to arrive. Tony split the team again into two groups, one serving and one for hosting. As we were getting close to the start, we felt anxious and worried due to the amount of people expected to be there ready to be served.   

Serving Hundreds of Homeless People

When the bell rang at the St. Vincent de Paul venue, it was time to act. Two of our hosting team were at the main entrance welcoming the Arizonans and collecting their tickets. Seven more were in line working at the kitchen and delivering the food, one at the drinking station and four on the floor helping bussing table. 

It was a non-stop work for around 2 hours. We were delighted by a volunteer person that came along to the venue playing the guitar and singing along Christmas song to all.    
By 1:15pm St. Vincent de Paul closed their doors, and it was time to clean up and leave the venue tidy so the next team could arrive and get set up for dinner.

It was without doubt, an exciting day but with some ups and downs – a strong reminder that there are hundreds of people homeless, and they really need help and volunteering is a way to contribute with them. We do want to thank St. Vincent de Paul organization for allowing the opportunity for CTCIA to be part of their giving and caring to the community. Also special thanks to former CTCIA Chairman, Mr. Abe Fatemizadeh for his support and participation. Lastly, special recognition to all the CTCIA participants for this event: Chris Spears, David Zak, Fred Johnson, Kate Smith, Amber Lu, Max Lares, Luke Pan, Robert Roussel, Gary McCray, Paul Macdonald, Boris Chen, Charles Goertz, and Donavan Charles.

Thoughts from CTCIA Volunteers

“It was very eye opening as I listened to life stories and battles that lead some down an unfortunate path. Then to see no matter how bumpy their paths have been, most were extremely positive and thankful to just be there. You can really see the impact St. Vincent De Paul is making in their community, and I loved being a part of it.” ─Kate Smith, Project Admin. & HR

"The experience of volunteering at St. Vincent De Paul was very humbling. The people we had the honor of serving were amazing, friendly, engaging, and thankful we were there. It makes you realize that at any moment anyone of us could be in a situation where we need help, whether it be a shelter or a hot meal. It is awesome that there are organizations for people to lean on during their time of need. St. Vincent De Paul is an outstanding organization, and I would welcome another opportunity to work for them again.”─Gary McCray, Project Manager