A crowd of hungry people climbed off a dilapidated church bus and gathered on the porch of a three-room house on Kings Road near downtown Jacksonville.
Inside the house, Alice Hamilton and her crew piled mounds of turkey, rice and gravy, mixed vegetables and French bread on Styrofoam plates that bent under the weight. Hamilton and other volunteers from Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church set out cups of punch and doughnuts for dessert. For those who agreed to help clean up, there were leftovers-to-go.
"Now don't all come rushing in now, you hear?" the bus driver, Alice's husband, James, told those on the porch when lunch was ready. "Take your hats off now."
Many people think about the homeless during the holidays. Missions and soup kitchens are rarely short of help at Christmas time, when volunteers give feet to their faith and more meaning to the season.
But for some volunteers, it's a year-round commitment.
Alice and James Hamilton, for example, have fed the homeless for so long that they have developed a system and along with it relationships with many of Jacksonville's less fortunate.
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James Hamilton, a deacon at Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, picks up about 60 people in his church bus for a ride to the Mission House, where they will be served a hot lunch.
-- Crista Jeremiason/Staff
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For 15 years, James Hamilton, a deacon at Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, has been driving his church bus to pick up 50 to 100 homeless folks lined up waiting on him downtown every Tuesday and Thursday. The bus stop has changed a few times over the years, but somehow people always figure out where they need to be to get fed.
Alice Hamilton joined the effort when she retired after working 32 years in Duval County school cafeterias.
At Abyssinia, church leaders believe Christians should serve God by serving others. The Hamiltons are examples of that, said the Rev. Eugene Diamond, co-pastor.
"They are definitely living the Christian life," Diamond said. "They are not just sitting on the premises waiting on the promises of God."
Many downtown-area churches and missions offer free meals during the week.
Abyssinia, according to the hungry, is rated with four stars.
"The food is delicious. It's like Piccadilly," said 45-year-old John Smith, a regular for five years. "The portions are so large. You sit down and you're full and you're thankful."
Though Alice Hamilton has been complimented many times for her home-style cooking and oversized helpings, the quiet, unassuming woman still giggles and blushes when her patrons clean their plates.
"I've been cooking since I was knee high to a duck," said Hamilton, who was surrounded by 10-gallon pots, 6-pound cans of beans and a box containing 750 square feet of aluminum foil. "I like to see people eat. I like to pile the plate up. I don't like skimpy."
The church spends about $16,000 a year on food from wholesale clubs and Second Harvest Food Bank.
"They like neck bones and pigs feet. I put vinegar in my neck bones," Hamilton said, chuckling. "They go crazy over that."
About 60 people boarded the bus when James Hamilton stopped recently at State and Broad streets. Several patted Hamilton on the back as they filed in.
"Where's your shirt?" Hamilton asked, scolding one man wearing an undershirt.
With his Jaguars cap and aviator-style sunglasses, Hamilton can appear taciturn. But his pale blue eyes and contagious grin reveal a softer nature.
Hamilton, who is retired after working 42 years for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Jacksonville, nodded when the man in the undershirt quickly replied, "In my bag, right here in my bag, Deek."
Most of them call him "Deek," short for deacon.
One of the regulars, Joe Edwards, smiled and nodded at Hamilton as he climbed on the bus and took the first seat. Edwards said he has known Hamilton since he was a youngster, when Hamilton delivered Coca-Cola in his neighborhood.
"He's a good man," Edwards said. "You know the saying, the salt of the earth? Well, he's the salt of the earth."
Hamilton unloaded the bus at the Mission House, a church-owned facility across from Abyssinia. Then he helped his wife and her staff line tables with steaming plates of turkey soaked in yellow gravy.
Outdoors, while waiting to eat, some visitors sorted through some used clothing that church members had collected and laid out for the lunch crowd.
When lunch was ready, James Hamilton opened the back door to the porch, closed his eyes and asked God to bless the group and the food. The men on the porch removed their hats and thanked him for the blessing as they sat down to eat.
Hamilton stood among them as they ate rice and turkey. Others, however, looked to him expecting to glean some spiritual wisdom, though Hamilton said he hadn't prepared a sermon. He encouraged them to read Psalm 23 and 24, which speak of God's promise to bless and protect.
"That will get you through," he said. "God loves you just like he loves me."
Then, in a low, gospel-style voice, he began singing, "Come to Jesus, just now, he will save you, just now ..."
Many stopped eating and sang with him.
"They are pretty good people," 38-year-old Richard Willis said of the Hamiltons. "I've been coming out here two years now, whether I'm working or not. ... They feed the spirit and feed the body."
Staff writer Mary Maraghy can be reached at (904) 359-4611 or via e-mail at mmaraghy@jacksonville.com
