Couple Donates Dinner From Daughter's Canceled Wedding to 200 Homeless People
After Carol and Willie Fowler's daughter's wedding was called off, they didn't want to waste the four-course dinner they spent thousands of dollars on. They did something extraordinary and invited 200 homeless people to the dinner and held it as a celebration of life.
"We're very pleased that she's handling it so well," Carol Fowler told "Here and Now" about her daughter's canceled wedding. "She was also very delighted to see and know that others had an opportunity to enjoy something, rather than just allow it to go to waste."
The Fowlers decided to contact Hosea Feed the Hungry and asked if they could donate the meal. At first, the head of the organization was stunned and wondered if she was being pranked.
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"It was my husband's idea," Carol said. "We prayed about it and when he woke up the next morning, he said, 'We're going to call Hosea Feed the Hungry and ask if we can donate it to the needy.' I immediately looked up the number and called and spoke with Mrs. Elizabeth Omilami, and in doing so, we partnered. And it was such a wonderful feeling."
"The passed hors d'oeuvre were very interesting because the children were wondering, 'could we take the whole tray, or do we just take one off of the tray?'" Omilami said. "So this was an educational opportunity as well, because now they all know how to eat at a four-course meal and the etiquette involved in that."
The 200 guests were treated to the meal at the fancy Villa Christina restaurant and enjoyed the full meal as if they were guests at the wedding. Hosea feed the Hungry is a non-profit organization that helps those who are at-risk or are already living in poverty. Feeing the homeless is only one of the programs available from the organization.
It is a Christian international aid organization and has so far distributed more than $3 billion in food, clothing, medical, educational, toiletries, furniture and cleaning supplies across the state of Georgia, the Philippines, the Ivory Coast and Uganda.
"Events are canceled, and sometimes for unknown reasons," Fowler said. "Do not allow that opportunity to go to waste. Call up your favorite charity. Give them an opportunity to use that for people that will not have an opportunity, perhaps in life."
