By David Cruz
Correspondent

One family is on a mission to have Christmas for those who otherwise might not have family around to exchange gifts, share a meal or reminisce about Christmases past. David Cruz shows how this family helps those Chasing the Dream.

The Wilderness Worship is a mission without a formal home. Pastor Susanna Jeon says it’s with the generosity of others that they are able to set up their popup kitchen and new clothing bins in a variety of sites around North Jersey. Today they’re in the parking lot outside the St. John’s Mission, downtown, spreading holiday cheer for those in real need.

“We don’t have a place right now,” said Jeon. “We just pray to God to give us an inside place.”

This is a family affair. Husband Gary and son Vincent collect donations of new clothing and food to share on Christmas.

“They are not just homeless people,” added Gary. “They are our brothers and sisters in Jesus.”

Not everyone here is homeless. Some will have places to go today, but here is an opportunity to get a meal and a gift of warm clothing. A chance to see friends and maybe share some Christmas memories of better times.

“All my Christmases as a young kid were pretty decent,” remembered George Applegate. “I lived in a nice house. We actually had a working fireplace. We actually hung stocking by the fireplace. My Christmases when I was a little kid, elementary school age, those were great Christmases.”

This is the season for gathering with family and loved ones, wherever they are, and wherever you are, whether times are good or bad. Juanita Serrano and Carla Vargas rarely get a chance to spend much time together.

“Not a lot of people are, like, you know, together,” said Juanita. “They got a lot of families that’s gone. A lot of people, when the holiday comes, that’s what happens, they get sad.”

“I don’t celebrate Christmas today because my mother’s homeless,” adds Carla. “I can’t spend time with her or nothing. It’s hard.”

Brothers Joseph and Charles are spending this Christmas together. “He takes care of me,” says the younger Joseph. “He takes care of me.”

Asked to remember his fondest Christmas, Charles remembers, “Waking up with my kids on Christmas morning and them jumping all over me. That’s a good day.”

Sixth grader Vincent summed up his reason for being in Newark on a drizzly Christmas morning. “I feel like Christmas is a time when everyone forgets the true meaning,” he says, “and they always just want presents and sort of a good time and they forget about all those other people in Africa or all over the world who are starving to death or who can’t even have a home and can’t even celebrate Christmas, so I came here because I remember those people and I really want to help the people here that we really can help.”

Ultimately, the spirit of this season is wherever you find it, even in a parking lot, next to a highway, in Downtown Newark.