When a California family got the disheartening news that their daughter’s fiancé would be calling off their wedding, they decided to make the most out of a difficult circumstance.
One couple from Sacramento, California, prepared for the wedding of a lifetime in October 2015. Sadly, the groom called off the wedding at the very last minute. Kari Duane, the bride’s mom, felt sad over what happened to her daughter Quinn Duane. But she didn’t want all the food they prepared for their 120 invited guests to go to waste.
“I feel a lot of heartache and heartbreak for her, but I will take away something good from this, I will,” Kari told KCRA.
Because they had already spent $35,000 on deposits for the wedding, Kari made a decision to hold a feast for the homeless at the banquet hall of the Citizen Hotel.
Kari explained that it made perfect sense to give back to other people who deserved it. After all, there’s so much more to be thankful for in life.
“When I found out on Monday that the wedding would not be taking place, it just seemed like, of course, this would be something that we would do to give back,” she said.
Kari recalled the first person who arrived was a woman who lived in a shelter with people who are either too old to work or are financially challenged and cannot afford to pay rent. The woman arrived 30 minutes early. At that time, Kari knew it didn’t matter even if no one else came.
“I was thinking at that moment, if she’s the only person that comes tonight, this was worth it,” Kari said.
Karri was surprised that other people came to the event. One of them was Rasad Abdullah, who came with his wife and five children. Unlike regular days when they couldn’t even eat three meals a day, Abdullah and his family felt like they were royalty that day. Simply put, the whole venue was overflowing with food. For Abdullah, it was a blessing to experience such a feast, not just for him but for his entire family.
“When you’re going through a hard time and a struggle for you to get out to do something different and with your family, it was really a blessing,” Abdullah said.
Another guest, Erika Craycraft, praised the generosity of Quinn and her family, who still had the heart to give back to other people despite them being the ones who lost things.
“To lose out on something so important to yourself and then give it to someone else is really giving, really kind,” Craycraft said.
A homeless mother named Tamara Dotson said that even if she loves her food at the shelter, she would never taste something like the meals served to them that day.
“This is not coming out of our kitchen. We love our chef Leo, but he wouldn’t be preparing nothing like this,” Dotson said.
