The 4th Annual APIC Giveback Hosts a Day of Feast and Fun for the Less Fortunate

Rashaad Lambert has been organizing events for Philadelphia’s less fortunate for the past 15 years. It started with Feast Incarnate, the University Lutheran Church of Incarnation’s weekly hospitality drive. After eleven years of service, Lambert noticed a trend.

“A lot of people were feeling alienated because they weren’t Christian – they were Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim – but they still needed services. I wanted to take a non-denominational approach,” he said.

Then in 2011, he founded The Annual Philadelphia Inter-Communal (APIC) Giveback. It’s a day of food, fun, education and entertainment for the less fortunate. Every year, Lambert moves the Giveback to a different community in the city. Last year was Point Breeze, where 22 Giveback volunteers hosted hundreds of men, women and children in need of food, clothes and community.

This year, Maleata Ragin, who has been volunteering with The APIC Giveback since its founding,  said that The APIC Giveback has gotten bigger and better.

“We’re going to help a lot more families this year,” she said.

This year’s Giveback is in Mount Airy at Simons Recreational Center (7200 Woolston Ave) on Saturday, December 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lambert and a crew of volunteers will be providing hot brunch and dinner.

“If you distribute canned goods to the less fortunate, you assume they have a way to prepare it – a kitchen, running water, heat,” said Lambert. “We prepare the food for them.”

The Giveback also sets up the rec center like a “pop-up store,” a retailer with racks of donated clothing, shoes and coats for men, women and children. Lambert likens it to walking into a department store.

Ragin has a fond memory of a five-year-old girl at last year’s Giveback who desperately wanted to find a pink skirt.

“I dove into the clothes,” she said. “It took about 20 minutes, but I did find her a pink skirt. I was really happy I was able to help her out.”

There will also be about 30 workshops set up, with activities ranging from making gingerbread houses to an auto clinic for adult women who want to know more about cars. The Giveback will also hold a free concert from local musicians, and the Philadelphia Flyers will be there to spend time with the kids in Simons Rec Center’s ice skating rink.

The goal, Lambert explained, is to keep people there all day.

“It’s about providing a safe atmosphere for people who aren’t able to spend money or time with their family for the holidays,” he said.

For more information or to volunteer, send an email to intercommunalgiveback@gmail.com, or call the APIC Giveback office at (949) 667-1479.

Images via The APIC Giveback