SAN ANTONIO – It wasn't the way Ralph Minas might have expected to spend this Christmas Eve, but it was the way he needed to.
"I'm overwhelmed," he said to the executive director of Taking It To The Streets Ministry as they prepared to help feed dozens of hungry, homeless people. "And we just got started."
The Boerne man helped organize donations and volunteers to feed people in need on Christmas Eve — an effort born out of a desire to avoid his own pain. Minas teamed up with Taking It To The Streets — which feeds 150-200 homeless people every Saturday at the Church Under the Bridge in San Antonio — to make it happen.
The path to giving started late last month as Minas was facing his first Christmas without his wife, Trish, after she died late last year. Minas said he wanted to avoid focusing on himself, so he turned his attention to helping others.
"When we came up with the idea, it really was a diversion in a way for me personally," Minas said.
The idea was to feed those in need. It gave way to a group, "Love for S.A.," which is mainly Minas' friends, and a fundraiser, which brought in more than $2,200 in less than a month.
People gave more than their dollars, though. Volunteers at the Saturday night dinner wore donated, "Love for S.A." aprons and served donated sausages. Their time, of course, was also donated.
"This is Christmas Eve. People want to spend Christmas Eve with their family. So I guess if you really want to say ... this is our family tonight," he said.
Minas didn't know how to go about turning his plan into reality, but a relative put him in touch with Taking It To The Streets, which coincidentally needed a hand.
The ministry normally partners with other groups to pay for, cook and serve the meals. On Christmas Eve, though, they didn't have anyone lined up until Ralph and his friends got in touch.
"We would have been scrambling without this group tonight to provide a hot meal," said Kenny Sides, executive director of Taking It To The Streets.
They helped each other, and they helped a lot of people with a lot of food. And Minas turned his grief into love for others in a way his wife would have loved.
"She would be knee-deep in it," he said. "This is what she loved to do."
Minas said there's money left over from the fundraiser. Though he doesn't know how he'll use it, he knows what he'll use it for helping other people.