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For Glenda Jolly, Saturday was a time of coming home and a time of giving.

Jolly, a native of Brundidge and a 1992 graduate of Pike County High School, came home at Christmas time and, brought with her, the love of Christmas and of home.

Jolly, the director of Georgia Residential Services in Atlanta, has been preparing meals and feeding women, children and men in homeless shelters for 10 years.

This year, Jolly decided to come back home to Brundidge and feed her community.

“I’ve always cooked the food for the shelters in my own kitchen and I wanted to do the same here in Brundidge,” she said. “So, I put the menu on Facebook and invited others to join me in preparing the meal. On, Saturday, we fed 398 people at Galloway Park Community Center,”

Jolly said those who came had the option of dining in the center or taking plates home.

“Mayor Isabell Boyd and members of the Brundidge Police Department delivered plates to people that were unable to come,” she said. “It was a wonderful time of fellowship. People who came to the center enjoyed seeing those they had not seen in a long time. There was hugging and laughing. Just a wonderful time of being together. I was so blessed be able to do this for my hometown.”

Jolly said Christmas is not always a joyous time for everyone.

“Some people are dealing with illnesses and death,” she said. “Some with unemployment and financial concerns and many with loneliness. But, I have found that when people sit down to a hot meal, it’s like being back with family. Like being at grandma’s. And it’s a time of remembering, a time for stories and life seems just a little better.”

Jolly said her hope is that the family dinner she orchestrated brought people in her community a little closer together, stirred good memories and made their day a little brighter and their Christmas more memorable.

For her, it was a wonderful way to come home at Christmastime. So wonderful that she plans to come home again the next time Christmas comes around.