BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Terri Wade said she doesn’t remember how she met Alphonse Bifulco four years ago. But he came at the right time. She had just become a foster parent to her sister’s two young grandchildren and was in and out of court fighting to keep them. Money was tight at the time, she said. Sometimes food stamps didn’t cover their needs. However, one day before Thanksgiving, Alphonse showed up at her door with a free turkey and a large cardboard box filled with packaged side dishes.
“I honestly wouldn’t know what to do without Alphonse when it comes to these trying times,” Terri said during an interview at her home in Springfield. “[The kids] belong to my sister and like I said she’s in Heaven. She sent Alphonse down here to make sure we were took care of.”
Terri was one the 12 families Alphonse was giving food to in 2014 through his initiative called the New Leaf Project. Every year his list of recipients grew. Last year, 70 families received food.
“A hundred people are going to be walking through that door Saturday to pick up these boxes,” Alphonse said, motioning to the doors of the Tiger Room at St. Phillips Church. “If one person comes in here crying and hugs me, [and] says ‘I really needed it’ that's why I was here, for that one person.”
Alphonse said he uses the Tiger Room as a base of operation for his project. He sets up rows and rows of cardboard boxes on the floor, while puts packaged foods and cereals on the tables behind them. Usually the Saturday before Thanksgiving, he and volunteers fill the boxes to the brim and give them to families.
“You get mashed potatoes. You get stuffing. You get vegetables. You get eggs. You get milk. You get bread,” Terri rattled. “Anything Alphonse could think of that could feed a table of three, he will put it in that box and make sure that table of three is getting fed for at least a week or so after the holidays.”
Alphonse said family meals were important to him while growing up in Brooklyn. No matter where he was Alphonse knew he could walk to his grandmothers home at 6 p.m. every night and get a good meal he said. Even when he spent his days robbing, stealing and getting high off of drugs, he knew he could dine at her house.
“You know I went away at a young age at 16,” he said. “I started getting Butterballs in prison.”
Fifteen years ago, Alphonse started turning his life around he said. He moved to Michigan, created the project with the help of a local church and organization. Since then, Alphonse has helped hundreds of families enjoy the holidays, trying to give them what he experienced as a child.
“Thanksgiving morning a hundred people are going to eat because of what I’m doing,” he said almost at a loss for words. “You can’t ask for more than that.”
***If you'd like to make a donation, click here, or call (269) 317-9194 or drop the foods off at St. Phillips Church on Capitol Avenue.***
