After Willie and Carol Fowler's daughter cancelled her wedding 40 days before the big event, her parents were faced with a reception that had already been paid for, ABC News reports, and rather than cancel it and lose their deposits, they decided to change the guest list to 200 homeless people.
"We went home that evening and my husband woke up the next morning and I was in the process of cancelling out the venue and he said, 'No, what we'll do is donate it to Hosea Feed the Hungry,'" Carol Fowler told ABC News. "It was a vision. [Willie] said he had prayed on it during the night and God had directed him and that's what we were going to do."
Horsea Feed the Hungry, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta that provides homeless people with services and resouces, is a charity that the Fowlers' daughter used to volunteer for when she was younger. When the family first called to pitch the idea of donating the venue, food and entertainment, Horsea Feed the Hungry's Quisa Foster admitted that she and the administration first thought it must have been a prank.
"It was too good to be true," Foster told ABC News. "It's a very creme de la creme wedding venue, so to say that you're going to host 200 homeless individuals at Villa Christina - it sounds like a prank call."
The Fowlers met with the organization and planned the big event, and on Sept. 15, buses transported 200 homeless women, children and families to Villa Christina, a Tuscan restaurant with modern Italian cuisine. The event began at 2 p.m. that day, featuring outdoor appetizers and space for children to play, followed by an indoor reception for children with face painting, juggling and clowns for the kids, while a motivational speaker was provided for the adults to enjoy.
"The children had chicken fingers, French fries, fresh fruit and chocolate chip cookies," Carol Fowler said. "The adults had salmon and chicken. All the plates were empty and there wasn't any leftover food at all. It was an eye-opening experience. You go to weddings sometimes and you see a lot of people really waste food. We take so many things for granted. These clients or guests, as we call them, they don't. When you look at the faces of the women and children and actually participated in the event, they look like you and me. These are working families that for whatever reason - the recession, economic turn - have found themselves in a place where they're without a place to live and starting over."
Although they worked with Horsea, the Fowlers were very involved in the event, and delighted in greeting all of their guests upon their arrival. They hope to turn the affair into a yearly affair that will last for two days instead of one, and encouraged others to consider donating future events as well instead of simply cancelling them.
"If you have cancelled an event, do not walk away. Pick up the phone and call your favorite charity and offer it to them," Carol Fowler said. "We're regular, working people and anybody can do this. This is not star stuff."
Click here to see a photo of Willie and Carol Fowler with some of their guests at the wedding reception they donated to 200 homeless people.
