Christmas at Father Alfred Center

On December 18^th, Father Alfred Center held our annual Holiday/ Christmas gift giving celebration.  The bustling Tuesday was filled with anticipation as the kitchen crew worked tirelessly to ensure that every detail of the meal was executed with precision and efficiency.  Despite our best efforts in the kitchen, every single dish seemed destined to meet with some form of set back or near total disaster.  From over-cooked meat and shrimp that wasn’t shelled properly, to the late started risotto and pans of meat drippings for Yorkshire pudding that were accidently washed by an overzealous dishwasher, everything that could have gone wrong seemed to.  Early on I had a feeling it was going to be one of those meals and we all did our best to mitigate the damage.

Thanks to the skill and hard work of the Kitchen Crew, when all was said and done the meal was absolutely delicious and every dish was well received. If you’re curious, here’s the menu:
-shrimp cocktail (w/ homemade cocktail sauce)
-tossed salad
-slow-roasted NY strip loin w/ mushroom gravy
-saffron and mushroom risotto
-white asparagus w/ hollandaise sauce
-Yorkshire pudding
-NY style cheese cake
-lemon mascarpone cake
-death by chocolate cake

After dinner Santa Claus came by the Father Alfred Center to wish the guys a Merry Christmas; and since he was here anyway, he decided to give them all bags full of gifts.

Each resident received shoes, hoodies, t-shirts and at least 1 pair of socks. 

When I asked him for a quote, Eric Clark (FAC Supervising Counselor) said:

“The Holidays can be a difficult time for people in recovery.  Many of our residents can’t be with their families & some have no home.  The Staff of Father Alfred Center are grateful to our clients who continue to be here.  We want to celebrate their decision to be sober & live a good life.  This is our way to show thanks for all their hard work at the St. Anthony Foundation Dining Room & here at the house.  This meal & these gifts are a token of our gratitude.”

Our new manager Akbar had this to say about the holiday festivities:

“There are two types of people in the world, those who are shaped by their circumstance and those who shape circumstance themselves.  Both will result in change!! Here at Father Alfred Center while we’re celebrating Christmas, we are able to shape our circumstance and create an atmosphere of giving as well as an overwhelming sense of gratitude.”

Each year we strive to make Christmas at Father Alfred Center special & memorable for our residents.  The challenges of the holiday season can be overwhelming to any of us.  Through a great meal and fellowship (and don’t forget presents from Santa) we like to bring the residents of Father Alfred Center that are spending this time with us a little bit of holiday cheer.

Angelo Bottoni is the Kitchen Coordinator at the Father Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s year-long residential recovery program for men.