Pizza party a big hit with homeless men

By TOM CLARK
Philadelphia Daily News

"She's earning her sainthood one slice at a time."

That's what Anthony Willoughby said yesterday about LeeAnn Camut after she organized a pizza party at St. John's Hospice for nearly 350 homeless men.

Willoughby, the food services manager at St. John's, remarked at how much the now-annual pizza affair has grown in just its second year - and praised Camut, 39, as the reason.

Camut, of Warrington, first got involved at St. John's Hospice, which serves noon meals for homeless men each weekday, by donating casseroles once a month. But she wanted to do more.

"I wanted to feed their souls and not just their bodies," Camut said. "I wanted to make them feel special."

"I enjoyed it very much," said Chuck A.J. Collins, who recently moved into an apartment but said that keeping food in his refrigerator has been difficult. "I'm very appreciative of everything they've done here and for how nice everyone is."

"Things like this mean so much to me since I don't always know where I'm getting food," said Miles Jordan. "And it was real nice of her to do all that for us."

To pull off the party, which featured pizza, hoagies and baked goods, Camut enlisted friends, neighbors and parents from her children's athletic teams to raise money and collect food donations. She also reached out to area businesses for help.

Market Way Flowers and Gifts, in Doylestown, provided roses for each table. Starbucks donated two boxes of pastries. And Station Pizza in the Northeast provided 100 pizzas at a large discount, Camut said.

The Camut children, Jonathan, 11, and Carly, 7, even chipped in, with proceeds from a lemonade stand. Camut and her husband, Michael, 40, also contributed almost $750 of their own money.

"It's great when volunteers take the bull by the horns," said the hospice's director, Kevin Barr. "All it takes is a few people to make something like this happen."

Gerard Huot, the volunteer coordinator of St. John's Hospice, lauded Camut for not only funding a large part of the party, but also for recruiting about 25 volunteers who helped serve the food and clean up afterward.

LeeAnn Camut said that she hopes to start a nonprofit foundation to continue serving the homeless. She says that with more funding, parties like yesterday's can spread to shelters across the city.

Michael recently took a class in the management of non-profit organizations at La Salle University and said that the couple is focused on finding a lawyer to assist them. He said that anyone who wants to help can reach him and his wife at bethelightoftheparty@verizon.net. *

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