Thanksgiving dinner at the Denver Rescue Mission on Wednesday included an unexpected treat – free long-distance calls that allowed people to reconnect with lost loved ones.
Sometimes they got good news and sometimes bad. But few regretted connecting with family members hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Michael Brown, 44, a Denver resident since 1979, talked to his sister in Minneapolis for the first time in six years.
“It felt good to talk to her. We talked about my newfound faith,” Brown said.
Ernest West, 50, talked to his mother in Chicago. He told her he’s happy to have his health, even though “I’m not doing so well financially.” He explained to her he’s on a three- to six-month waiting list for an apartment.
He’s trying to get back on his feet after a prison term, he said.
“This is what we’re about, connecting people,” said Qwest volunteer Mark Mulligan. “You forget the power of the human voice. I’ve seen men a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier than me dissolve into tears when they say, ‘Hi, Mom.”‘
Qwest volunteers helped diners find phone numbers, addresses and in some cases, bus tickets home.
One man found out his father had died. His family helped him line up a bus ticket and he was on his way home for Thanksgiving.
Another tearfully told his mother that his wife had died six months ago and this will be his first holiday without her.
“They don’t always know what kind of reception they will get on the other end, but I haven’t seen a case in which they were sorry they called,” Mulligan said.
The free calling program was so successful, he said, that Qwest and the Denver Rescue Mission will discuss doing it monthly.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Sen. Wayne Allard and his grandchildren were among the 75 volunteer servers who dished out turkey and trimmings to nearly 1,000 people.
A downcast Michael Boulton, 57, unemployed and recently homeless after a six-month apartment lease ran out, was among them. He had perked up by the end of the meal.
“I had the American dream,” Boulton said. “A big house and vehicles. I lost the home. It’s my fault. I take full responsibility.”
Boulton said he sleeps on a cot in the chapel of the Denver Rescue Mission, with no prospects for a permanent home.
“I have absolutely no money,” he said.
Staff writer Dave Curtin can be reached at 303-820-1276 or dcurtin@denverpost.com.
