Symphony orchestrates cause to feed homeless during the holidays

Symphony Thompson is giving up her holidays to serve food to the homeless.

“I’ve been homeless before, so I know what it’s like to see my family struggle and not have a place to stay or not knowing where I’m going to get my next meal,” Thompson said. “And at the time, we had no one to reach out to, no one to help us, so that instilled in me, ‘OK, well people that are in my situation, how can I help them?’ ”

It was that experience that motivated Thompson to give back. Thompson, 23, is a recent graduate of Coastal Carolina University, and rounded up a group of CCU students, some being alumni, to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. They all pitched in to buy food, and met up at Thompson’s house, staying up late the night before to cook and prepare meals.

“I woke up feeling like a kid on Christmas Day,” Thompson said. “We were jumping around fixing plates, and we fixed plates that morning to keep the food warm. But as we were fixing it, we literally were just hopping around excited, dancing to music, and when we got to 75 plates we were just like, ‘There’s no way. This is 75 plates for 75 different people.’ And when we first started off we said, we don’t care if we help one person or 1,000 people, as long as we reach somebody, that’s what matters.”

After they packaged the meals, they wrote uplifting messages on the boxes such as, “This isn’t the end,” “Keep pushing,” and “God loves you.” They then put all of the packaged food into a 15-passenger van to hand out meals at local parks. The van was paid for by Thompson’s manager at Enterprise, Brabham Smith, who was inspired by Thompson to get involved after getting word of what she was doing.

“I couldn’t ask for a better employee or a better friend for that matter,” Smith said. “She is devoted to her faith and those around her, and her kind and fun personality makes everyone feel as though they have known her for years. She is truly a rare light and she makes me want to be a better person.”

Not only did she inspire her manager to get involved, but she inspired others, including her best friend Sharmaine Barnes.

“As long as Symphony is involved, it’s a little mustard seed,” Barnes said. “She taught me this. It’s the faith of a mustard seed, and with her, that’s all it took. A small, little mustard seed, put it in the soil, and she’s gonna continue to water it. She’s gonna keep watering and watering and I don’t even know what the type of things that are gonna sprout from this, but it’s gonna be huge. And she’s not looking for any type of high-fives, like I said, she’s pure.”

Although Thanksgiving was the first time Thompson organized a group to feed the homeless, she said she wants to continue doing this every year, and will do it again this Christmas because helping people is one of her passions.

“My main passion I’ve learned recently, is helping people,” Thompson said. “The reason why is because I get so much joy out of something I’m doing for free, and not just homeless people, but people in general. So being there for someone who doesn’t have anybody, or being their support or a part of a support group really drives me. If there was an opportunity to do something, I would quit my job if I needed to, to do it. That’s how passionate I am about helping people.”

Even though she is giving up her holidays, she said she doesn’t mind dedicating her day to help people.

“I have an opportunity to spend time with my family 364 days, if we’re not talking about Thanksgiving or Christmas individually,” Thompson said. “But you know some people don’t have an opportunity to gain a meal every day. They don’t have an opportunity to feel loved on. So if I have to miss a holiday with my family, it’s completely fine. I feel like I’m still with family. I feel like everyone is connected in some way. So I felt right at home, like I was sitting at home serving another family.”

For now she just plans on doing this every holiday, but she said she would eventually like to start an organization that helps feed the homeless, because she feels like her calling in life is to serve others.

“My dad named me Symphony, because of a Marvin Gaye song,” Thompson said. “But as we all know, a symphony is an orchestra. So I think God is using me as a symphony to be an orchestra to people. So whether that’s using me as an instrument, or using me to serve, or using me to be a voice, the sound of an orchestra, to someone who doesn’t have that in their lives.”

This story was originally published December 25, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Symphony orchestrates cause to feed homeless during the holidays."