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thedrifter
12-26-07, 07:59 AM
themorningcall.com
Every Christmas, plenty of room at his inn
For 15 years, Fogelsville hotelier has fed the less fortunate by thousands.

By Daniel Patrick Sheehan

and Marion Callahan

December 25, 2007


As the first busloads of the needy and hopeful filed into the Holiday Inn Fogelsville on Monday, the inflatable Grinch-green arch at the threshold of the toy room abruptly lurched to one side and threatened to fall over, but some volunteers clustered around it like Iwo Jima Marines and restored it to balance.

Apart from that little drama, everything else unfolded with machine-like precision at the hotel, where owner Kostas Kalogeropoulos and a larger-than-ever band of merry Christmas comrades mounted the 15th annual Spirit of the Lehigh Valley Dinner.

''I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday,'' said volunteer Bob Drago, who turned 52 on Monday and celebrated, as he has for the past seven years, by donning his ''Cook and They Shall Come'' T-shirt and slicing 130 or so turkeys into meal-sized portions.

By now, this all-day event is as much a part of Lehigh Valley holiday tradition as the Dickensian Christmas tours of Bethlehem and the Peace Candle lighting in Easton, and the back story is well known: Kalogeropoulos, leaving Manhattan by car one day, saw destitute people sheltering under cardboard boxes at the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel and began wondering how many such people called the streets of the Valley home.

He put out a call for help to some friends and held the first dinner at the former Sheraton Jetport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, where a crowd far larger than expectations turned out and ran through the available food in no time.

It was a near-disaster, but Kalogeropoulos recovered and learned some lessons; the ensuing parties have grown into fun-but-efficient banquets fueled by individual and corporate donations from across the region. By the end of Monday's affair, some 4,000 people had dined on turkey and gone home with plenty of good cheer and a few wrapped presents for the children.

Jaindl Farms and Trans-Bridge Lines are among the main sponsors: Jaindl donates 130 turkeys, while the bus company offers eight buses to ferry residents from Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. ''We get a lot of guys volunteering to drive,'' said Vinny Quinn, a Trans-Bridge transportation supervisor.

In Easton, many of those waiting to board a bus outside the Crayola Factory said the annual meal gives them a warm sense of family and fellowship during what can often be a lonely holiday season.

''We get together as a group and share our holiday experience together,'' said Dave Shive, 49, who recognized others in the crowd from local food pantries and kitchens. ''We are all in the same boat, we understand each other and we deal with the same problems, having to figure out how to survive and live in life.''

That includes the Maynard family, whose Mississippi trailer home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina two years ago. They've been staying with a relative in Easton since.

''We've wanted to come to this meal for the past two years, but couldn't,'' said Mary Maynard, adding that she couldn't afford the expense of a big family meal or presents for her five boys.

Holding 2-year-old Charles, Lee Maynard said this day was for the children. ''They can get something special and experience the joy of the good Lord,'' he said, watching his son play with a Matchbox car. ''It shows them people really care and that there is still hope out there for people who have nothing.''

Back at the hotel, Miss Pennsylvania, Rachel Marie Brooks, helped hand out toys that volunteers had carefully sorted by age and sex so, Kalogeropoulos said, no little boy would accidentally go home with a Barbie.

''I like a lot of toys,'' said Jordan Reyes, a 5-year-old Easton boy accompanied by his 7-year-old twin brothers, Harvey and Hansel, and his mother Sobeida, who remembers a different kind of Christmas growing up in the Dominican Republic. There, it was a holiday of family get-togethers and memorable meals, rather than the sort of budget-draining commercial pileup that can leave a strapped mother at loose ends.

''Oh, it's hard, especially with three boys,'' she said.

When Kalogeropoulos hears such things, he is thankful anew that inspiration struck him so forcefully 15 years ago.

''I'm a sucker for kids, that's my problem,'' he said, shaking his head and darting off toward the kitchen. On the way he passed his 16-year-old son, Alex, who has grown up with the event.

''Everyone coming together like this to make it work is pretty amazing,'' said Alex, who also offered this reckoning of his charitable, hard-charging father: ''He's a hard act to follow.''

daniel.sheehan@mcall.com

610-820-6598

Ellie