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"It feeds your soul": Eugene Police sponsor holiday dinner event for unhoused individuals

Police staff serve people holiday dinners.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Eugene Police Department staff serve holiday dinners to people at St. Vincent de Paul's Lindholm Center on Highway 99.

The Eugene Police Department took over the kitchen at Saint Vincent de Paul’s Lindholm Center Wednesday, to serve up holiday meals to about 200 people in need.

Donning elf hats and reindeer antlers, EPD staff dish out plates of pulled pork, mashed potatoes and all the fixin’s to lines of hungry folks here on Highway 99.

Jeff Williamson currently lives in St. Vinnies' congregate tent shelter as he looks for an apartment of his own. When asked what he thinks of the police serving him a meal, Williamson said, “That’s great. It’s really great.”

Police staff serve dinner to a man.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Jeff Williamson waits to be served a sweet roll with cinnamon butter during the EPD Holiday Dinner. He currently lives in St. Vinnies' Dusk to Dawn congregate tent shelter.

This marks the seventh year for the EPD Holiday Dinner, with two years off during the pandemic. Officer Dave Clark has worked this beat in north Eugene for nearly 15 years and heads up the festive event.

“Everybody benefits from this. It feeds your soul,” he said.

The dinner guests at the Lindholm Center were treated to live music by Kevin Rothaar and Marilyn Bloch as they enjoyed meals donated by Texas Roadhouse and two local churches. The Bruns’ family of Bruns’ Apple Market made gift bags for the visitors. The bags included toiletries and other personal items.

Additionally, EPD started a collection of donations from its staff of adult jackets, hats, gloves, boots, or socks to give to the clients. Officer Davis said the donated winter wear includes recycled police uniforms (with patches removed.)

Close up of a police officer.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Officer Dave Clark has worked the police beat in north Eugene for nearly 15 years and heads up the EPD Holiday Dinner at the Lindholm Center.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVdP) Lindholm Center provides hot showers, free laundry services, two meals a day year-round, a location to receive mail, social services, and a place to stay warm.

The Center also coordinates SVdP’s Dusk to Dawn, providing a year-round congregate tent shelter for unhoused individuals, and the Egan Warming Centers program, which provides people with warm places to sleep during periods of life-threatening cold.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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