During the holiday season, most people think about what they will be receving, yet there are other people that don’t think about themselves at all. English teacher, JoAnn Galluzzi is one of those people. She doesn’t think about what will be under the tree for her during the holidays.
Galluzzi is more concerned with helping people that cannot help themselves. She volunteers her time at a local homeless shelter with her parish on Christmas day. She is a firm believer in giving back to the community.
“The folks that need help are not there because they want to be there; they’re there because of some circumstances that happened to them,” Galluzzi said.
Last Christmas, Galluzzi worked in the kitchen for the first time she worked with the misfortunate. She didn’t see much of the people that were there for a nice, warm meal, but she saw enough. She realized that these were people, like any people, but just needed extra help.

“There really isn’t any difference between them and me…” said Galluzzi.
According to Galluzzi this can happen to anyone. Galluzzi doesn’t just volunteer alone, she goes with her church and hopes to soon involve her family.
“I’m going with my parish. They do a lot of social justice,” Galluzzi said.
Ms. Galluzzi works with her parish, which has many outreach programs. Once she found out that they help with the less fortunate, she felt it necessary to join. Galluzzi has always been fond of the idea of helping out people in need. After volunteering part of her day on Christmas, she hopes to involve herself more with the community around her.
“I feel like we are in this together. I feel like we need to develop a sense of humanity,” Galluzzi said.