Willie and Carol Fowler were set to have an elaborate wedding for their daughter. Just forty days before the ceremony, the event was canceled. Instead of losing the space and their deposits, the Atlanta couple recreated the guest list to include 200 homeless people.
Carol recounts how her husband stopped her from canceling out the venue after praying about it the night before. He suggested, instead, they donate the event space, food and entertainment to Hosea Feed the Hungry, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta, Ga.
“When they first called, the administration thought it was a prank call because it was too good to be true,” Quisa Foster of Hosea Feed the Hungry said. “It’s a very creme de la creme wedding venue, so to say that you’re going to host 200 homeless individuals at Villa Christina — it sounds like a prank call.”
Hosea CEO, Elizabeth Omilami, arranged to have buses ready to transport residents from three of the area’s shelters to the restaurant. The Fowlers particularly wanted to invite women with children. The meal of the afternoon included beef tenderloin kabobs and coconut shrimp for hors d’oeuvres followed by salmon and chicken for the adults and chicken fingers and fries for the children.
“In lieu of having all of our friends, and we could have packed the place with just our friends, we opted to have people from shelters be our guests,” Willie said.
Their daughter, who found the event “surreal, but incredibly rewarding,” along with the rest of the Fowler family took part in making the dinner a success. With such a great turnout, they are hoping to make this an annual event.
“We didn’t get any cash out of it, but people found out that somebody cares about them and that’s worth more than any cash we could have given them,” Omilami said.
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BMWK — Would you consider transforming a canceled event or order into a donation for charity?
Bonnie says
Such an AWESOME!!!! thing to do…..
Bonnie says
WONDERFUL!!!!
Tanya says
This was an amazing, amazing
gesture! Kuddos to the bride’s father & family.
Kendall says
That is so wonderful, brings tears to my eyes. People like to say What Would Jesus Do? Well, I believe this is what Jesus would do.