Jewish, Hindu volunteers help serve Christmas meals at Detroit center

Detroit ― More than a dozen Jewish and Hindu volunteers spent Christmas Day working in a Detroit community center to give some Christians workers the day off.

The interfaith partners ran the kitchen at the Cass Community Social Services Center on Monday to serve residents lunch and dinner as part of Mitzvah Day, which is considered the largest single day of volunteering in the Metro Detroit Jewish community hosted by the JCRC/AJC.

The Detroit site serves as a 24/7 warming center and family shelter while also providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck, officials said.

"We serve every day, but on Christmas Day we use volunteers," said Faith Fowler, its executive director. "It allows us to give the staff the day off with their family, and it makes sure we're able to serve really good, homemade meals, family-style instead of soup kitchen-style."

The center has three cooks who work the kitchen on a regular day. But on Monday morning the kitchen saw more than 20 volunteers between the Jewish community and another volunteer group from Saline.

"The idea is to let the Christian staff have the day off," said Nancy Welber Barr, the vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, as she helped about a dozen other volunteers prep and package food for residents in need.

"Hopefully we can do our job half as well as they do it, but allow them to celebrate with their family and friends, because this is not a holiday that we would celebrate, because it's not part of our religion."

Mitzvah Day coordinators said more than 500 volunteers were helping nonprofits serve residents in Detroit, West Bloomfield Township, Novi, Farmington Hills and Huntington Woods as part of the effort.

At Cass Community Social Services Center, residents were offered chicken, potatoes, carrots, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. Volunteers stayed at the center through the afternoon prepping, cooking and setting up dinner.

For dinner: smothered chicken, roasted potatoes and salad.

Nasy Sankagiri, the president of the Hindu Community Relations Council, and Sudhakar Tadepalli are Hindu and were helping the Jewish volunteers cut potatoes, onions as well as celery to go in the Christmas dinner.

"We're first-generation immigrants. Emigrated here from India, and we realize Christmas is a very important holiday and there are many disadvantaged people that are not enjoying family time or a good warm meal, so it is important for us to come and contribute... especially when we are not occupied by our own families," Sankagiri said.

Usually the JCRC/AJC is supported with volunteers from the area's Muslim community, but this year they were not present on site.

"With what's going in Israel right now, Gaza .... it's a very difficult time for the Muslim community and the Jewish community. We welcome our Muslim partners, but we understand if they're uncomfortable partnering with the Jewish community right now. Things are pretty fraught," Welber Barr said. "In past years, it has been their custom to join us, but we're not hurt. We understand that this would be a difficult year for them to be able to come join us."

Among the volunteers present was Katie Wagner, 41, and her daughters Aviva, 11, and Naomi, 8. The young girls made placemats by stamping green snowmen, red snowflakes, green trees and blue stocking caps on a white paper.

"I think it's important for them to see how everybody lives and how we can help the community, especially (because) this isn't our holiday," Katey Wagner said. "It's nice that we can come in, pitch in for people that aren't able to celebrate Christmas, giving them Christmas."

Wagner said she volunteered a decade ago when Aviva was an infant, but now she's old enough to help out as well as her sister.

The pair packed cookies, fruit, and candy canes into bags for the residents to have dessert.

"Now that they're finally old enough to actually do things, we decided that this will be our thing every year," the mother said. "I think that it's important that we don't forget about everybody, especially through January, February, March, it's cold... . I would like to be a part of this community and help way more often than Christmas."

mjohnson@detroitnews.com