Rosales’ life has changed a lot since then. He’s now a deputy with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, but still makes coming to the Soup Kitchen on Thanksgiving a priority.
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“I do care about coming here and being with these people ‘cause to them this may be the only dinner they have and all they have — So it really is special,” he said.
On Thursday, the Springfield Soup Kitchen, staffed with dozens of volunteers, served up the seventh ‘Italian Thanksgiving’ courtesy of the Springfield Olive Garden.
Plates were packed with lasagna, broccoli, salad and breadsticks and passed around to hungry patrons — one of whom was Barb Ray, back for the second year in a row.
She didn’t have any other plans for day and no other Thanksgiving dinners to go to besides at the Soup Kitchen.
But surrounded at a table with her friends, people who care and a plate of good food — there’s no place she said she’d rather be.
“You feel like you’re loved and welcomed,” she said.
William ‘Billy’ Kerrigan knows he could easily be one of the people who sat at the tables on Thanksgiving — if it wasn’t for his new job at Olive Garden.
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Kerrigan said he has struggled with addiction and has been in and out of the criminal justice system, but he always had a soft spot for helping other people.
“When I moved back to Springfield last year, I immediately found the soup kitchen — it found me. I don’t know. God was in there somewhere,” he said.
He started volunteering with the soup kitchen and discovered a newfound passion.
One day, he took a bus down to the Springfield Olive Garden and applied for a job, and it may have just been because of his time spent at the soup kitchen that General Manager Jason Jacobs gave him a chance.
Since then, Kerrigan has been working on turning his life around. He said every day is a struggle, but while volunteering at the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving with his fellow co-workers — he said he’s winning the battle.
“It’s where I want to be. It’s what I want to do. Truly in my heart — I like being here. I like doing this,” Kerrigan said. “It was a no-brainer. Why not come here on Thanksgiving?”
Kerrigan said he dreams of building a new soup kitchen for everyone someday but for now, he’s just thankful for good opportunities — and good people.
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