Gabe Trujillo, who is battling homelessness, knew just what he was going to do with the $20 he got from a Catholic church this morning.
Trujillo, 44, smoked a thin cigar and wore a broad smile on his face as he waited in line outside Denver’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception with about 1,500 other needy people.
“I’m going to buy a bus ticket and go to Greeley to see my Dad, Benny, and my sister, Bernice, for Christmas,” Trujillo said with bright anticipation.
The fare is $18, he said.
Trujillo said he is homeless but has been receiving help from Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army’s Crossroads Shelter.
Tony Arguello, 43, was among the first people in line at the Basilica. He arrived at 3:30 a.m.
“It will be a little extra spending money, maybe a little extra food for Christmas or whatever,” Arguello said.
Arguello, originally from La Junta, is a cook, but he’s been out of work. He works day-labor jobs when he can, but it’s not enough to make ends meet, let alone save any money, Arguello said.
“I thank the church and Father Woody. If it weren’t for them, the people who really need it wouldn’t get it,” Arguello said of the traditional gift.
The late Monsignor Charles Woodrich began giving $10 in Christmas card envelopes to the homeless in Denver in 1989. The gift was doubled in 1998.
Long before the simple, but desperately needed, cash gifts, Woodrich — who was affectionately known as Father Woody — opened the doors of his downtown Denver parish — Holy Ghost Catholic Church — to the homeless on dangerously cold winter nights.
Shortly after Woodrich first opened his church doors, the Samaritan Shelter was founded in Denver.
In October, a new 5,700-square-foot day-use shelter for the homeless, Father Woody’s Haven of Hope, opened on West Seventh Avenue and Lipan Street.
Woodrich, who died in 1991, also helped to organize an annual Christmas dinner for the homeless, which continues today.
Brothers-in-law Mel Trujillo, 77, and George Atencio, 76, both Knights of Columbus members, volunteer at the annual cash-gift distribution.
“It really feels good to be able to help,” said Trujillo, a retired manager at a paint company.
Atencio retired as a landscape architect with the Denver Parks and Recreation Department after 32 years, he said.
“I’m just giving back what has been given to me over all these years,” Atencio said of his service.
Many of the people standing in line this morning were bundled in layered clothing against the cold. Some wore blankets over their shoulders. Some brought folding chairs to sit on as they waited.
Gabe Trujillo was heading straight to the bus depot to buy his ticket to Greeley. He wouldn’t let the $20 burn a hole in his pocket, he said.
“I’m going to go buy the ticket the minute I leave here,” he said. “Then I’m going to go pack my bag.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
