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Camillus House to serve Thanksgiving feast to the homeless and give thanks for $1 million gift from Ocean Bank

L-R: .José A. Concepción, President & CEO of Ocean Bank; Dr. Paul R. Ahr, President & CEO of Camillus House; Bob Dickinson, Chairman of Camillus House, Brother Raphael Mieszala, BGS; Brother Bill Osmanski, BGS; Tony Cabrera, Board Member.

Camillus House staff and scores of volunteers marked Thanksgiving with a traditional holiday dinner for hundreds of persons who are homeless and poor. They also gave thanks to God for the organization’s many blessing.

Among the good things to be thankful for: the generosity of Ocean Bank, which pledged $1 million for long-term support of the Camillus House Food Program. The bank’s latest gift of $1 million, given on Thanksgiving Day, will provide continuing financial support for Camillus House programs that feed the homeless and poor, and will help fund the construction of the Ocean Bank Nutritional Facility on the new 340-bed Camillus House Campus.

“Ocean Bank is a long-time supporter of Camillus House and the mission of the Brothers of the Good Shepherd,” explained Dr. Paul R. Ahr, President & CEO of Camillus House. Dr. Ahr said he was extremely grateful for the institution’s longtime support. “They have supported our Thanksgiving celebration for the past 10 years helping Camillus House to provide thousands of traditional Thanksgiving meals to the men, women and children who need it most in our community.”

This year’s Thanksgiving celebration, which was opened to all who are poor and homeless, was held under a tent along NE 8th Street and featured a traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pies.

More than 160 volunteers helped prepare and serve the traditional Thanksgiving Feast with shifts beginning days in advance, allowing Camillus to celebrate its 47th Thanksgiving by serving over 1,200 persons. Now, thanks to Ocean Bank’s support, Camillus will be able to construct a new state-of-the-art nutritional facility to serve more than 500,000 meals to individuals in need at its future facility.