San Antonio family finds Christmas in Fort Worth

It is the day before Christmas and, like many people, Denise Garza is sifting through sacks of gifts — mostly socks, coats and toys.

But these presents aren’t for her own family of five.

Denise and her three sons — ages 25, 17 and 14 — will hand out the gifts to the homeless at Beautiful Feet Ministries’ Christmas celebration.

The family tradition started four years ago when Denise drove up from San Antonio to be with her eldest son, Marty, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, who couldn’t make it home for Christmas.

Marty had signed up to volunteer at Beautiful Feet that day.

“We went empty-handed just to be together, and it was life-changing,” said Denise, who drove her gift-filled car to Fort Worth on Monday. “There was no other way to say it.”

The annual gift-giving event, organized by Beautiful Feet and B’nai B’rith Isadore Garsek Lodge No. 269, a Jewish service organization, serves about 200 homeless men, women and children each Christmas.

“It was near the end, and you could tell there wasn’t going to be anything left for everyone,” Denise said, recalling that first year.

Her youngest son, Daniel, who was 10 at the time, took a yo-yo out of his pocket — a gift from organizers for volunteering — and gave it to another boy.

“He probably never would have had the opportunity to experience that, and that was it,” she said. “We got back to our hotel, and they were like, ‘Mom, we don’t need anything for Christmas.’ They were just so changed. They were so affected by this.”

‘Very life-changing’

Jesse, 17, said he and his brothers happily chose to give up Christmas gifts the next couple of years to pay for the trip to Fort Worth.

Before the first trip to Fort Worth, “we were little kids … and we wanted things,” Jesse said. “For us to go and see these people and see how little they had, for them just to be grateful for a McDonald’s toy and play with it outside and just be so happy to have so little, it was very life-changing.”

Jesse organized a donation drive at his school to collect coats and clothes. Daniel handpicked colorful socks for the littlest ones, since there never seem to be enough kids’ socks to go around.

The giving spirit has even spread to other holidays, with the Garzas volunteering with Meals on Wheels at Thanksgiving in San Antonio.

“They are people just like us who have gone through hard times,” said Denise, who works in medical billing and whose husband is a paramedic for the San Antonio Fire Department. He had to miss this year’s Christmas with the family because he is working.

“We went through difficult times, but it made it so much easier to know we have a roof over our head. We aren’t missing any meals,” Denise said. “We are not in any way at the same level of hurting of some of the other people out there.”

‘We serve anyone’

That the Christmas service in Fort Worth is an interfaith effort also makes it special, Denise said.

“Yes, we are Christian and we believe in our religion. But it’s all about coming together and helping others, showing love for others and working hand in hand regardless of race or religion. That is just something that needs to be done more,” she said.

Harry Kahn, president of the Fort Worth chapter of B’nai B’rith, said the Jewish volunteers started working with Beautiful Feet Ministries 27 years ago to make Christmas special for those in need.

Since then, the service organization has doubled its volunteers, and members of B’nai B’rith have even helped renovate the kitchen at Beautiful Feet.

“Anytime that any of us can be a help to someone, that is what we should be doing,” Kahn said. “It doesn’t matter what our religions are. The idea is to be a help to not only people but the community.”

Doug McLeod, a Beautiful Feet board member who also volunteers on Christmas Day, said the Christian organization serves people of all faiths.

“Anyone who is hungry can come in and eat with us,” McLeod said. “We serve anyone who will walk through the door.”

The meaning of Christmas

Beautiful Feet serves daily meals to the homeless and provides medical services and a day shelter near the East Lancaster Avenue corridor, the site of most of Fort Worth’s homeless service organizations.

McLeod said that since he started working with the homeless 12 years ago, he has learned what true giving is all about.

“It is sacrificial and loving someone, being willing to help them out and feeling the compassion of Jesus Christ,” McLeod said.

Marty, who signed up with Beautiful Feet the first year to have something to do on Christmas, said now he can’t imagine not volunteering.

“It would be like we were doing it [Christmas] wrong if we didn’t do it,” Marty said.

This story was originally published December 24, 2014 at 5:12 PM with the headline "San Antonio family finds Christmas in Fort Worth."