LITTLE ROCK — Eleasha Brown and her family sat huddled around a laminate table Thursday in the basement cafeteria of the shelter that not only provided them with Thanksgiving dinner but is also serving as their temporary home.
The family of six moved into the Little Rock Compassion Center at 3618 W. Roosevelt Road three weeks ago.
“We’ve kind of been down and out,” Brown, 31, said. “I’m so grateful.”
Brown is one of about 250 people who will sleep at the center Thursday night. She said she is thankful there was an open room big enough that her brood can stay together.
Dozens of churches, community groups and shelters across Little Rock serve dinner to disadvantaged people on Thanksgiving Day.
But “when they close at noon today, all those people will come over here,” said the center’s director, the Rev. William Holloway. “It’s a lot of people all at once this weekend.”
He said the center expects to feed as many as 800 people in total at its noon and 5 p.m. dinners Thursday.
Many businesses that serve the city’s homeless population close for the weekend, Holloway said, which causes a bottleneck at places like the Compassion Center. He said at least 2,100 meals will be served over the weekend.
The center serves three meals every day of the year and provided about 163,000 meals to the homeless last year, Holloway said.
Over in the corner, Brown’s three daughters giggle and fuss as their older brother, Daniell Jackson, 11, clears the family’s trays and heads over to a volunteer for a slice of pumpkin pie.
Cherish Jones, 4, and Skyy Jones, 2, play peek-a-boo over the plastic cafeteria chairs with Brown’s husband, Charles Jones, while Carma Jones, 2, toddles around the table, secures a spot on Brown’s lap and buries her head in her mother’s neck.
“Life’s just been going downhill, and we’ve got to come here,” Brown said. “Any parent would want better for them ... but I’m grateful we have a roof over our heads.”
Brown said the family became homeless after her nursing assistant’s license was revoked and her son was stillborn.
She said she is looking for work and does not know how long they will be at the center.
“They just give you time to find jobs and get back on your feet,” she said. “It’s an uplifting ministry.”
Holloway said Monday that he could use another $2,000 for the dinner to avoid cutting into the center’s operational budget. He said Thursday that enough donations have since come in.
“What we got is enough to get us through,” Holloway said. “We have enough food now to carry us through to about Christmas” when the number of people they feed will spike again.
He called the surge “a temporary shot in the arm” and said donations are down 30 percent or so.
An October ranking of the nation’s 400 biggest charities showed donations dropped by 11 percent overall in 2009, the worst decline in the 20 years the Chronicle of Philanthropy has kept a tally.
According to the ranking, charities that rely on donated items did better than those that collect cash.
Holloway said the center needs donations of toys and breakfast food.
“We’re having a hard time getting toys, an awful hard time,” he said. Often the center provides the only toy children receive on Christmas.
Holloway said two-thirds of the center’s donations come from individuals. The rest comes from businesses.
If donations don’t increase, “that means these kids here or somebody else doesn’t get to eat,” Holloway said.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 11/26/2010