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She said she has noticed a change in the men who benefit from the meals.
"I have a son who is now 31," she said. "When I first started doing this, he was home from college. One night it was snowing, so he and my husband went down (to the shelter to drop off the food) so I wouldn't have to be driving with the roads slippery. He was rather quiet on the way back, and then said to my husband, 'Dad, there were guys my age there.' "
Ratajczak said the observation was accurate.
"There are a lot of young men, (age) 18-19-20, who graduated from high school. Mom and dad got divorced. Dad moved on. Mom's boyfriend doesn't want the son around, and soon the son is on the street," she said.
"I never knew someone who had lost their home before," she said. "Now, I can't believe the number of people I know who have lost their homes."
She said her group helps run a resource room at the shelter, where the men get bus tokens or help getting their birth certificate, for example, so they can get an ID.
"It's discouraging," Green said on the increase in recent years from the 40 men who ate the donated dinners several years ago. "You don't want to see people having to be there. But so far, we have been able to step up our commitment."
"The reality is, without the factors that brought these men to the shelter being addressed, there is a lot of recidivism," Wickless said.
She said one of the highlights for her group is hosting special events, such as a summer cookout, a monthly birthday party or December turkey dinner, during which the members interact with the men at the shelter.
"That stuff feeds their soul," she said.
This story has been updated.