SACRAMENTO HOMELESS HELPED

Lots of families have Christmas Day traditions. For one Sacramento-area woman, helping people who face homelessness has been hers for two decades, KCRA 3 News reported.

The Christmas in the Park project started 21 years ago. Judy Serafini and her daughter Jessica realized there was a need to provide essential hygiene supplies, hats, gloves and snacks for people without homes in Sacramento.

So, they came up with an idea to provide a small offering of those items to Downtown Sacramento’s unhoused community.

“Twenty-one years ago, we didn’t have a place to be on Christmas morning, and so we decided to come down to Cesar Chavez Park, where we knew a lot of needy hang out,” Serafini said.

“At that time, all we could afford was lunch bags.”

From lunch bags, to shoeboxes, to backpacks, the Christmas in the Park project has grown, year after year.

Serafini her daughter, Jessica, and other volunteers distribute those essential supplies along with a $5 bill to people in need each holiday season.

“On Christmas we’re so blessed,” said Serafini’s daughter, Jessica Jackson. “Why not give them a Christmas?”

For Sacramento’s unhoused population, the kind gesture means a lot.

“Especially on Christmas, they could be home with their families,” said Thomas Davidson, who stood in line Friday morning to receive a backpack. “They decided to come here and help us out. 'God bless ’em is all I can say.'"

What she gets from the effort, Judy explains, keeps her coming back each year to hand out the backpacks.

“I’m very blessed and humbled,” Serafini said. “I’ve been needy myself in life, so being able to help and give back and pay it forward feels really good.”

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