Winter is a tough time to be homeless and hungry.
When the weather turns cold, houses of worship and shelters see more and more folks hoping for a warm place to stay. Many churches in the area open their doors in the winter, but what happens around Christmas when their pews are filled with parishioners worshipping Christianity’s most important holiday, and those churches are busy?
In Baltimore, synagogues and Jewish communal organizations pick up the slack.
At the Jewish Connection Network, community service on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day has turned into a tradition in its own right. Kate Kirby is senior associate of operations and strategy at JCN, and she said that the 2025 edition of Christmas service marks an anniversary of the Network helping those who need it most.
“We have been doing this for 20 years. This is our 20th year of having volunteers out in the community on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our nonprofit partners, whether that’s meal service or other volunteer needs at the organization,” she said.
This year, JCN offered three different meal services on Christmas Eve and two on Christmas Day. On Dec. 24, they served brunch at Paul’s Place, a charity near Pigtown, as well as dinners at Hannah More Family Shelter in Reisterstown and Eastside Family Shelter in Rosedale. On Christmas day, Network volunteers served brunch at Our Daily Bread Employment Center north of Downtown and lunch at The Baltimore Station in Sharp-Leadenhall. The menu included casseroles, veggies, desserts and even a baked potato bar.
While many of the volunteers at these events are Jewish and working through the Network, there are also plenty of folks who aren’t. Michaela Wilson is the marketing manager for The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, which created the Jewish Connection Network, and she said that for these type of events, Jewish identity is almost incidental.
“I have volunteered a handful of times with Jewish Connection Network. I can say when we are with the public, I don’t think that our Judaism, really, in my experience, comes up. I think people don’t necessarily know, or it’s [not] very relevant to what’s going on,” she said. “We’re just people that are just interacting with other people.”
Kirby said that the work that Jewish Connection Network does, which is a part of their larger Mitzvah Month service every December, helps community members forge connections with their neighbors and those who rely on the help they offer. At a time when many Christians are busy with their own holy day, this work is essential.
“We get a lot of feedback about the impact of serving a meal, and seeing the impact of the organization and the work that they are doing as a way to give back,” she said. “Maybe if they’re not celebrating the holiday, they can step in and provide support.”
Over the two days and five events, the Network had around 45 volunteers help them serve meals to approximately 775 individuals. The food is provided by area organizations like Hoffman and Co. Catering, Zeffert and Gold Catering and Wegman’s.
The demand for these services this time of year is driven largely by the weather. Kirby said that the numbers reflect this.
“Because of the weather and cold temperatures, many people who are experiencing housing insecurity are seeking more drop-in services that they might be looking for a meal or just a warm, dry place to come into during the day,” she said. “And many of these nonprofit partners are also warming centers early in the city, so during very extreme cold or weather, they’re also seeing higher numbers of people just seeking those services. But certainly, many of our partners are serving up to 300 or more meals a day, and definitely heightened during this time of year.”
There’s a lot of need in the winter. Jewish Connection Network and its volunteers have been glad to help out for two decades and counting.
“We know that this time of year, many of our nonprofit partners are experiencing higher numbers of guests or clients seeking help or services, and so we are happy to kind of step in and help with that,” Kirby said.
