Holiday meals feed thousands of needy Las Vegans

Stephen Curran

Friday, Nov. 26, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

Denise Kaili looked somewhat out of place as she ate a hearty turkey dinner Thursday morning at the Catholic Charities Lied Dining Facility.

Dressed in a donated purple women's business suit, Kaili, 37, sat alone at a long metal table in the middle of the dining room, quietly eating the turkey, mashed potatoes and yams served to her and roughly 3,000 other needy Las Vegans as part of the shelter's annual Thanksgiving dinner.

More than a year after moving to Las Vegas from Modesto, Calif., with her then-boyfriend, Kaili still has trouble identifying with the homeless and near-homeless men and women who lined up outside the facility.

"I like to be on the other end, where I'm helping," Kaili, who ate everything but the pumpkin pie, said. "I'd rather have my own food."

After Kaili's relationship with her boyfriend turned sour and her telemarketing job disappeared after the company's owner was convicted of fraud, Kaili has found herself doing what she can to rebuild her life.

"I used to make good money," she said. "But there are some people who are ripoffs."

David Little, the shelter's dining room manager, knows the situation well. Little, a former resident at the shelter, coordinated the meals he and other workers served that morning.

Now, four years after he first came to the shelter, Little sees men and women he remembers from his days on the street, he said.

"I see some people who haven't changed," Little said. "It's so fragile when the stuff hits the fan. You never know."

Kaili now lives with another male friend in a nearby trailer park, an arrangement she hopes is only temporary until she can replace the identification and birth certificate she says her ex-boyfriend stole.

Without that, she is stuck in her low-paying and part-time telemarketing job with another company, relying on meals that, she says, on most days consist mainly of stale bread and beans.

The improved menu, workers at local shelters have said, comes from an influx of donations during the holidays. That's help the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and other charities have said they could use all year.

"They're giving the food I wouldn't give my dog," Kaili said, her eyes beginning to water. "America, we're such a rich country but we take the worst care of our homeless, our senior citizens and our children. I believe people can do more."

She's not the only one. The Boston-based Catalogue for Philanthropy, using data from tax returns filed in 2002, has ranked Nevada the 40th cheapest state in the nation when it comes to donating to causes such as Catholic Charities.

That year the state was ranked 14th for per-capita wealth, as Nevadans collectively earned more than $48 million but donated less than $1 million to charity, according to the nonprofit's "Generosity Index."

Experts have blamed Nevada's low standing on the state's transient nature, as many newcomers have yet to develop a sense of community and civic responsibility seen in areas with more long-term residents.

But volunteering has become an annual tradition for Las Vegas teacher Catherine McBride and her 11-year-old daughter, Amber Knudson. This year is the third the family has served food at the Catholic Charities shelter, having volunteered every year since they moved here, McBride said.

"It's something to give back to the community," she said. "I know at the end of the day we did something to help."

The Catholic Charities dinner was one of the many holiday meals served to underprivilegeed residents. Across town that morning, Alan Chan, who owns two Green Valley McDonald's franchises, opened the doors to his restaurant on Valle Verde Drive to 36 families from the Judith Villas apartment complex in North Las Vegas apartment complex and another group of teens from the Center for Independent Living.

Ten of Chan's employees, one of whom donated a stuffed animal to each of the children who attended the breakfast, volunteered Thursday morning to serve scrambled eggs, sausage and hash browns.

For most of the younger children, the best part came when general manager Tami Daugherty opened the restaurant's Playplace.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Natacha Fremont, who lives at the Center for Independent Living, said she enjoyed the food but was still tired from waking up to board the van to Henderson.

"It's very nice," said Fremont, adding that she regularly eats a chicken sandwich at her neighborhood McDonald's on her way to work. "I haven't touched it yet but I know it's good."

By then, Bridget Davis, also 18, had already started eating her breakfast. She did not appear to mind being up early that morning.

"It's better than what we would have had at home," she said. "We would have had a TV dinner."