Massaro: Honoring King by feeding others

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Virdell Miller could have had Monday off. But she wouldn't think of it. She hasn't taken Martin Luther King Day off for the past 22 years. Instead, she was where she has been the past two decades, overseeing the feeding of hundreds of people at Volunteers of America's Sunset Park Senior Center.

"It's all related to service to others," said Miller, who has worked for VOA for 30 years, ever since she moved to Denver from her native Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Everybody, really, is our brother."

Scores of volunteers wore shirts that explained why they were there - that it's not a day off, but a day to serve.

"This gives me an opportunity to live out my Christian faith - service, caring, showing love," Miller said. "It's all people. It's everybody. God made us all. So we all belong to him. Everybody is special to God. So why shouldn't they be special to me?"

Miller is VOA's associate division director of nutrition services. She has a warm smile and a way of putting you at ease, making you feel as if you've known her for years. She used all the skills she has accumulated - from earning her master's degree in nutrition from Tuskegee Institute to planning and preparing meals for Volunteers of America residents and guests.

Jim White, the director of VOA, said the meal was a direct response to the legacy of the late civil rights leader - to serve others.

As he put it, to serve "those who hunger."

It's not just the hunger for food, but for dignity and opportunity, White said.

VOA drew volunteers and support from a variety of outfits, including Frontier Airlines, Big O Tires and Kaiser Permanente, whose volunteers did free blood-pressure and blood-sugar tests, as well as serving meals.

Volunteers from the Association for Retarded Citizens passed out coats and gloves.

In line for the clothing was Davon Davenport, who moved from Orlando, Fla., to Denver on a promise that turned out to be false. Now he and his family are living in a homeless shelter.

"This is good," he said. "Even if we didn't need it, there's a lot of people who do. This should be an everyday type of thing. It's good people have got a place to come to today. But what about tomorrow?"

After Jewish and Christian blessings, and just before the meal, White offered a synopsis of King's life - how he kept speaking of love when he was greeted with hatred, how he didn't give up when it could have been easy to do so.

White also explained why VOA has made the meal a tradition.

"So when someone asks me, 'Why honor Dr. King? Why do this meal for 22 years?' I would say to them, and to each and every person in this room, myself included, that if we could find Dr. King's strength, his faith and the same lifelong dedication to fight the problems and issues that stand before us - we, too, will see our promised land."

That's why VOA does it. This is why Miller does it, this service to others.

Maryann Stacey, 47, was smiling big and practically dancing down the stairs after she had just eaten her portion of the 600 pounds of ribs and 400 pounds each of potatoes, green beans and peaches. She's passing through, she said, going from Austin, Texas, to Las Vegas.

"I was feeling hungry," Stacey said. "But now I'm feeling alive."

When Gary Massaro listens, people talk. massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271