It was the end of the family’s novena and she told her parents, “I want to feed the homeless.”
Her parents were determined to make their daughter’s wish come true.
“We’re Catholic. Helping out the poor whenever we can is something we do throughout the year. Her novena ends on Christmas. She’d been praying for nine days and talking about the story of Jesus. I guess that’s why she asked for it,” said Zekaya’s father, John Ray Taitano.
The first year, the family prepared tuna sandwiches, chips and bottled water. They made approximately 30 meals and delivered them on Christmas morning in the Hagåtña area where the homeless congregated.
Since then, delivering a homemade meal to the homeless on Christmas morning has been a family tradition.
Kids pick the menu
“At the beginning of the month, we ask what they want to feed the homeless. The kids get to pick the menu,” he said.
This year, it was Zekaya’s favorite home-cooked meal, chicken Alfredo.
The Taitano family first attends Mass on Christmas Eve. The family wakes up early on Christmas morning and the kids open their gifts.
For the next few hours, John Ray and his wife, Jordine, break out the pots and pans and get cooking.
“Usually me and my husband will help each other cook and when it’s time to put it in the containers, that’s when the kids come,” said Jordine. “This year we made 50 meals and delivered them all.”
Donning bright red Santa hats and cheerful smiles, the family hits the road in search of homeless individuals. They don’t do it for the recognition. It’s just done out of love.
The Taitano family poses for a photo before delivering home-cooked meals to the homeless in Hagåtña and Tamuning on Dec. 25, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Taitano family
“It’s about being nice and giving food so they don’t have to be hungry,” said 6-year-old Zekariah.
“I love that they get to have food every Christmas,” said Zekaya.
“Our hearts get even bigger every year when we prepare for this,” said Jordine. “This is our small way of giving back.”
More homeless every year
While the family enjoys preparing and giving out the meals to the homeless, they are saddened that they see more homeless every year.
“We keep making more and more each year, but we always run out of food,” said John Ray.
Often the meals they prepare cover only the homeless in Hagåtña and Tamuning.
The home-cooked, warm meals are graciously accepted, often with a smile and a “thank you.”
“Sometimes they start looking for things they have to give back to us and we just tell them, ‘We know you’re struggling and we wanted to give you a warm meal and make your holidays less gloomy,’” said John Ray.
The reason their family was able to prepare 50 meals this year was because a few of John Ray’s customers at Java Junction donated cash to help the family get the items to prepare the meal.
While they love the Christmas tradition, the family said they don’t want to see it grow every year because that only means there are more homeless people on the island.
As for the giving children, they may have wished to feed the homeless for Christmas, but Santa made sure to deliver their other Christmas wish, too. Zekaya got shoes and clothes and Zekariah got a Nintendo Switch.
“We struggle, but at the end we make it,” said John Ray. “Our kids are the ones we live for.”
