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By Jerry Burke, on December 28th, 2011
The Second Anual Hummus Open was held at Mainland Golf Course, Mainland, PA, on October 15, for the benefit of the The King’s Jubilee. Eight golfers participated raising one hundred eighty dollars for the cause. The event was won by Michael Diker (Karen Burke’s brother) of Danbury, Connecticut who shot a scorching 41 on the front nine of the course. Pat Burke (Event organizer Jerry Burke’s brother) from Hartsdale, New York was a close second hitting a 42 (nothwithstanding using clubs purchased in 1978 and wearing Converse sneakers as golf shoes). Said Diker, after the match, ” I didn’t realize that Pat was breathing down my neck like that until the 9th hole,” while proudly accepting the Hummus Open trophy. Peter Psomiadis, the winner of the innaugural event in 2010, was the top local golfer finishing a strong 3rd.
Tournament honors for closest to the pin on the 8th hole went to Diker; winning a bottle of Ouzo for his efforts. Victor Cifree ”the gluten free kid” of Staten Island, New York, won the award for the longest drive as he hit it pretty well, and was the only golfer to keep his ball in the fairway on the 13th hole. He won a tub of Hummus donated by Costco, but no bread to go with it.
Tournament committee members Burke, Psomiadis, Mike Cook and Dave Kelly are planning to make the event bigger and better in 2012. They are hoping that some of our best local golfers like Phil and Jack Morrash, Raj Kyriakos, and lefty Steve Gozur will be part of the field next year. In addition, Psomiadis will be attempting to make contact with Tiger Wood’s agent and Burke will try to recruit fellow Hibernians Padraig Harrington and Rory McElroy to help promote the event.
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on November 22nd, 2011
I guess I’m not a very good showman. I have always tried to avoid the cameras. Even so, we have ended up on all the network affiliates’ newscasts and the daily and weekly papers in the city at some point through the years. Over nearly 23 years, that can probably just be attributed to some bad luck on a few slow news days. I suppose if I were a real go-getter of a fundraiser, this would be the prime time for the human interest story to tug at the heartstrings with the cameras rolling. We do not serve on the street on Thanksgiving. We have found that there are plenty of other people who want to get the attention for spreading table cloths in center city and serving dinner one night a year. One homeless fellow told me that if you want a turkey dinner with all the fixin’s in center city on Thanksgiving Day “all you have to do is stand still and it will come to you.” We are happy that this is part of our American tradition and that there are those families who are happy to serve on Thanksgiving.
We feel that the root cause of homelessness is the break down of the family. When families are strong, it seems there is always room for one more. Almost every Thursday night of the year we are out serving a meal on the street, so at Thanksgiving, we are careful to spend time with our families. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The most important thing you can do to fight homelessness this Thanksgiving is to do your best to have a loving and memorable day with your loved ones. Hopefully your family includes some who can’t be with their’s as well.
We don’t take pictures of the people we serve. We do not make merchandise of them as objects of pity. We treat them with respect. We have come to truly respect and love many of them. Apparently telling this doesn’t loosen the purse strings as effectively as printing a picture of a toothless old man in shabby clothes receiving a steaming hot cup of soup from a smiling, clean volunteer. Sorry.
They still need help. We still need your money to help them. Will it help if I tell you some of them will pray for you? Some of them will.
Last Thursday, we gave turkeys to two of the men who have moved into apartments. After we served on the street, we dropped off 17 turkeys from St. Philip’s Turkeys ‘R’ Us drive to Revs. Joses & Chantal St. Phard at their home for them to distribute at The Word In Action International Ministries. Today, I brought two fresh turkeys and two more frozen turkeys down to TWIA Ministries along with several boxes of food and some grocery store gift cards for them to distribute. Today, they were expecting over 300 families in their north Philadelphia neighborhood to show up looking for food for Thanksgiving.
We will be serving dinner on the street on Tuesday Nov. 29 and then every Thursday until Holy Thursday, and the last Tuesday of each month, as well. We thank God and each of you who support us with sandwiches, turkeys, toiletries, money, etc., and prayer. If we are given more, we will be able to do more. We do not have a reserve. You do not give alms for them to sit in a bank. You give them. We give them. It’s simple.
Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on November 14th, 2011
“There is your brother, naked and crying! And you stand confused over choice of floor covering.”
The quote above could just as well have come from Occupy Wall Street, but it is from St. Gregory of Nyssa, 4th Century.
 icon by the hand of Nick Papas
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on November 13th, 2011
”Let us not overlook Him here, hungry, in order that He Himself may feed us there. Here let us clothe Him, that He may not send us forth naked from the safe refuge with Him. If we give Him to drink here, we shall not say with the rich man: ‘Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool our tongues’ (Luke 16:24). If here we receive Him into our homes, there He will prepare many mansions for us. If we go to Him when He is in prison, He Himself will free us also from our bonds. If, when He is a stranger, we take Him in, He will not look down upon us as strangers when we are in the Kingdom of heaven, but will give to us a share in the heavenly City. If we visit Him when He is sick, He Himself will quickly free us also from our infirmities.” – St John Chrysostom
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on November 12th, 2011
St. John the Almsgiver by the hand of Niko Chocheli
November 12th
Troparion (Tone  In patience thou didst win thy reward, O righteous John. Thou didst love the poor and provide for them bountifully. Pray to Christ our God to save our souls.
St. John the Almsgiver is the patron saint for The . . . → Read More: Saint John the Almsgiver
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on November 1st, 2011
Saint Nicholas icon by the hand of Cheryl Ann Pituch
Every year we commemorate St. Nicholas’ care for the poor and oppressed by giving away at least three dollar coins to each person we serve on the Thursday night closest to December 6th. This year that will be on December 8th. We share the story with . . . → Read More: St. Nicholas Day Will Soon Be Here
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on October 30th, 2011
A modern monk heard it said, and taught his brothers, that money is like manure. Unless it is quickly spread around, it does no good, but scorches and defiles what it covers. . . . → Read More: Spread it around
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on October 28th, 2011
St. Justin Martyr by the hand of Nick Papas
The home-schoolers’ group at St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church Souderton just started meeting this autumn. Bishop Thomas gave them the name of St. Justin Academy. For their first ever service project, they chose to make power packs for The King’s Jubilee. One of the moms called me . . . → Read More: St. Justin Academy Homeschool Group
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on October 25th, 2011
We started off the summer with high hopes. My health seemed finally back on track after the ordeals of the staph infection on the spine, the morphine overdose in the hospital, the secondary infection, the reactions to the antibiotics, renal failure, the ICU, the hives, the prednisone, hives again, the long slog back to finally feeling . . . → Read More: Is it time to dream big?
By Cranford Joseph Coulter, on October 25th, 2011
These Ugly Quilts don't look ugly to me.
The First Ugly Quilts have been completed and are ready to give away. They are really beautiful! They were made with all scavenged, no cost material. The lady who made them saved time by using old mattress pads for filler, thus eliminating the need for knotting them. We . . . → Read More: Ugly Quilts Not So Ugly
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About
The King's Jubilee has been ministering in Jesus' Name among poor and homeless people in Philadelphia since February of 1989. We also seek to equip and encourage any who wish to join us in similar service, wherever they are located.
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