‘It’s like a family here’: Jewels Helping Hands shelter embarks on first Christmas Day

As Anneke Calhoun put it: “When you’re homeless, Christmas is like any other day.”

Which is why the people at the nonprofit shelter of Jewels Helping Hands did what they could to make the holiday special.

Red tinsel garland, a couple small Christmas trees, ornaments and decorative holiday characters distinguished the inside of Jewels Helping Hands from “any other day” – the center celebrated its first Christmas Day on Wednesday, said Calhoun, a supervisor at the facility. The facility opened in February of this year.

On Wednesday morning, guests staying at the Cedar Street location were surprised with the gifts they wanted, courtesy of the center’s executive director, Julie Garcia. Christmas movies like “The Santa Clause” played on the television, and guests sat around in the living area chatting as they waited for Christmas dinner.

The Christmas dinner menu, completely organized by donors, consisted of ham, turkey, stuffing, gravy, rolls, carrots, pumpkin pie and spiced cider, Calhoun said, which was “going to be quite the event.”

Ashlee Feldman, who is currently homeless and staying at the shelter, pranced around with her black cat, Binks. She rescued him from an animal shelter before he was to be put down because he is nearly half-blind. She’s been living at the shelter since September after a fallout with her sister, Feldman said.

As she petted Binks, Feldman noted that she isn’t at all upset about staying in a shelter during the holidays. Instead, it’s homier than the streets, and she feels good about it, she said.

“It’s awesome. I have made more friends here than anywhere else,” Feldman said. “This place, it’s like a family here. I do things at my own pace right now.”

Feldman also took it upon herself, as the shelter’s artist, to make ornaments for both Christmas trees. She made one for every guest with their name on it to get in the holiday spirit.

Before becoming homeless, Feldman said she grew up playing instruments while being taught by her grandmother. When her grandmother died in 2006, she turned to art instead – the shelter’s walls don multiple paintings and drawings Feldman made.

For Calhoun, working at Jewels Helping Hands is “the ultimate dream job,” she said, because the people there feel like her family, too. Calhoun was previously a fentanyl user living on the streets until she came to the shelter in June after being referred there by a detox facility.

“After about two months here, I asked for a job. I saved up my money, got my own housing, got my license back and got my car,” she said. “And now I’m the supervisor.”

Calhoun said it felt easier to grow because Jewels Helping Hands has a different feel than other shelters in the area. She felt like people supported her, like the environment helped her and that the experience better connects her with guests.

“Everyone that works here has pretty much been on the streets,” she said. “They’ve been through it.”

As people passed in and out of the shelter in the afternoon, those coming and going gave a short “Merry Christmas” and a “Happy New Year” to one another. Two people came by with grocery bags full of food.

“Being homeless, it has a bad name, but it could honestly happen to anybody. A majority of the people here aren’t drug addicts. They’re not thieves,” Calhoun said. “They’re people who ended up in bad situations. Wrong place, wrong time.”

The holiday experience is something everyone deserves, she added.

“It’s really important,” Calhoun said Wednesday. “Because it’s really, really hard being on the streets.”