On Tuesday 18th December 2024 I had the privilege and great pleasure to join Bro Aaron Day at the St James Three Pillars Feeding the Homeless and the community in need Team.
It was a cold, dark, damp night before Christmas. People were in a hurry, perhaps to get home from work or to go out for a nights’ entertainment. All was quiet as I walked in to the grounds of St James Church in Northampton. Yet as I entered the church, then the vestibule, a hive of activity came to view. I quickly set to work helping to set out the tables and chairs ready for what was to come.
Gary and Kay had been in the kitchen since midday preparing the chicken curry and rice, the ham, leek and potato pie, the cauliflower cheese and mixed vegetables to be served later. The chicken, ham, leeks, cauliflower and rice had all been donated.
Bro Steve Hardy and others were setting up a drinks station and Bro Peter Dolman was setting out the cakes he would later hand out.
Aaron explained that we were likely to be feeding around 80 homeless and needy mouths from around Northampton.
Families started to arrive at 5:30pm and single “friends” (as our visitors are called) from 6:00pm. There was a steady flow. I had been tasked to assist Aaron and serve the main courses. Despite perhaps having reached the lowest ebb of poverty and distress, these good people maintained a decent manner. I was surprised – I don’t know why - and taken with how polite they all were.
Food is generally funded through donations and grants. Also, several, local supermarket regularly donates bread, cakes, vegetables and a host of other food produce, including the odd bunch of flowers!
Eileen and her baking team were in charge of baking a variety of cakes throughout the year including mince pies over the Christmas period.
The Team also run a food bank from the church, ensuring that those who visit can at least take away some necessities to help them through the difficult days ahead. Bro Ron Reid oversees the food bank and heads up a small team of volunteers that apply to the local council and companies for various grants.
Throughout the evening team members were washing up the various used cooking pots, pans and utensils and the plates, cutlery and cups used.
Sarah Becech, the Head of the local St James School, came along with a choir of her pupils to sing carols and add a little festive cheer. Many stayed on to listen. Perhaps the young people also felt they added something to those in their times of need.
Once our friends had finished their meals, we broke down the serving and dining area back to has it had been, with no trace or resemblance of our earlier endeavours.
As I left St James Church just after 8:00pm, back out in to the quiet, dark and damp night. I looked around I reflected on what I had taken part in the previous 2 to 3 hours. Unless you were there, you would not imagine that 120 meals had been served to the homeless and needy. Aaron informed me that the cost of the evenings food was around £12 which was for cheese, milk and a few other items. Which works out around 10p per person for a homemade two-course meal.
How grateful our friends patently were. Yet, the world outside had no idea what had just taken place within those hallowed walls – or indeed the backroom work in terms of funding, buying and collecting food, and resourcing needed to deliver that minor miracle therein performed. Was it just another Masonic secret?
Aaron’s Team numbers around 70, and is drawn not only from Freemasons and their partners, but also from local churchgoers and others who want to get involved. As food is served every Tuesday and Friday, team members can attend and contribute as and when they are able. In pulling together his team from such wide base, you could say that, in building this team from diverse sources, a local “oneworld alliance” has been created!
As with the Three Pillars Peterborough project, we should all be proud of how our Brethren and Companions are demonstrating Freemasonry in the Community.