About two thousand people, many of them homeless, lined up outside Denver’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception waiting in the freezing cold this morning to receive $20 in a long-standing charitable tradition.
Monsignor Charles B. Woodrich, a Denver priest and champion of the homeless, started the gesture by giving out $10 bills almost two decades ago.
Woodrich died in 1991, but his generosity lives on and the dollar amount was doubled to $20 in 1998.
Dorothy Yee, 50, was among the people who received the cash.
Yee has five sons, all adults. She plans to buy gifts for at least three of her boys.
Something simple “to keep warm,” she said, perhaps socks or gloves.
“This is a blessing to me, a gift,” said Yee, who is homeless. “It’s worth the wait in line.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
