After their daughter cancelled her nuptials just 40 days before the big event, Carol and Willie Fowler decided not to let the upscale meal they had planned for her wedding go to waste, so they went ahead with it, albeit with a new list of guests. On September 15, two hundred of Atlanta’s homeless were invited to enjoy a four-course meal at one of the city’s upscale restaurants.

When the people at the Hosea Feed the Hungry charity in Atlanta got a call from someone offering to donate a lavish meal at the upmarket Villa Christina restaurant to the needy, they thought it was a prank. But Carol and Willie Fowler were dead serious. Their daughter Tamara had just cancelled her big weeding, but they weren’t about to let all the food they had ordered for the big event go to waste. “It was my husband’s idea,” Mrs. Fowler told WBUR. “We prayed about it. And when he woke up the next morning, he said, ‘We’re going to call Hosea Feed the Hungry and ask if we can donate it to the needy.” They set the whole thing up with the help Elisabeth Omilami, CEO of Hosea Feed the Hungry, and on September 15, 200 of Atlanta’s less fortunate were treated to fine dishes and drinks in an event dubbed “The First Annual Fowler Family Celebration of Love”. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade, right?

Photo: Jonathan Phillips

Many of the guests were not accustomed to gold plates and crystal glasses like the ones at Villa Christina, and some of the children were wondering if they should take the whole tray of food or just one item off the tray, but Elisabeth Omilami said this just meant the event had an educational purpose as well, because the guests now know how to eat a four-course meal and the etiquette involved. “The event on Sunday demonstrated how as a community when we come together and live in harmony, we can make a difference. Today is an example of harmony. Hosea Feed The Hungry is very thankful to the Fowler Family and their heart for the poor.” Omilami wrote in a press release. “It is a blessing that this family provided an experience for those who are less fortunate to enjoy an afternoon with their family at one of Atlanta’s premiere wedding venues. We are so thankful for their generosity.”

Photo: Hosea Feed the Hungry

The First Annual Fowler Family Celebration of Love was such a success that the Fowlers plan to host a similar event next year, this time paid for by sponsors.

Source: New York Daily News