Generosity Boosts "Make A Christmas" Party In Manchester

MANCHESTER — The generosity of area business owners and individuals has kept pace with the expanding guest list for an annual Christmas Day party for homeless people.

The “Make a Christmas” feast and gift-giving event at Manchester Country Club is set for Wednesday, and organizer Raju Gomes said he expects at least 400 guests from seven shelters in Greater Hartford.

Gomes said many people responded with donations after a Dec. 12 article in The Courant. He said he has received about 400 toys, which Santa Claus will hand out to children, and a Manchester woman has offered to buy all the bus passes to get individuals and families to the event.

Gomes said earlier this month that he expected about 300 people to attend, but he added about 90 people from a Hartford shelter on Monday.

Gomes launched “Make a Christmas” in 2001 as a 17-year-old senior at Manchester High School. He drained $900 from his bank account and used his father’s South Windsor restaurant to host about 45 homeless people, providing a bus from an East Hartford shelter to the Shish Mahal restaurant and presents for 14 of the youngest guests.

Just about every year since then, Gomes has thrown a party on Dec. 25 for the region’s homeless. He has said he drew his inspiration from the generosity of Linda Clymer, a Manchester neighbor who befriended the family soon after they arrived in this country from Bangladesh.

Dinner will be served Wednesday at 1 p.m. after a greeting from Mayor Leo Diana. Presents will be handed out at 4 p.m.

Gomes said he is already planning a bigger and better events for next year. He said he plans to organize three Thanksgiving dinners and three Christmas Day feasts in 2014 in Manchester, Waterbury and New Britain.

“I’ve been through a lot in life,” Gomes said. “It just makes sense to do something because there’s so many people who don’t have anything.”