Long-ago meal at St. Vincent de Paul dining hall 'a blessing,' Elizabeth Smart recalls at Humanitarian Dinner

Friday, Nov. 11, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Fourteen years ago, Elizabeth Smart-Gilmour experienced what she describes as the darkest time of her life: Then 14, she was abducted, held captive and raped repeatedly for nine months. Despite her circumstances, the kindness of strangers on occasion lightened her despair; one such moment occurred when her captors took her to Catholic Community Services’ St. Vincent de Paul dining hall in downtown Salt Lake City.

“I did have dinner there one night,” she recalled at the Nov. 4 CCS Humanitarian Dinner, at which she was honored for her work as an advocate for victims of human trafficking and violent and sexual crimes.

Without that meal, she would have gone hungry that day, she said, adding that it wasn’t until she saw the video of the dining hall, shown at the dinner, that she remembered eating at St. Vincent’s. “What a blessing that meal was in my life at that point in time.”

Other, similar acts of kindness from strangers have changed her definition of family, she said; she now thinks that “family is someone who cares about you, someone who wants what’s best for you, who loves you; and I am so blessed because I have that. I’m surrounded by them every single day.” 

After watching the video of the services that CCS provides to refugees, the homeless and the hungry, she said to her it feels that the CCS staff and volunteers have become family to those in need.

Smart-Gilmour joined Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Catholic Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe as honorees at the CCS event, which drew almost 700 people to the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

The St. Vincent de Paul dining hall serves about 1,000 meals a day and is perhaps the best-known of Catholic Community Services of Utah’s operations, but the organization also provides job counseling and other services to the homeless at the Weigand Homeless Resource Center. Additional programs offer help to immigrants and refugees, and the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden distributes 3 million pounds of food each year to those in need.

CCS depends on volunteers for many of its programs, and also relies on community donations.

“We are surrounded by hundreds of people, neighbors who look just like you, who are working to make this community stronger. CCS has been working in this community for 71 years, and you have been with us, our neighbors, our friends, every step of the way, never giving up and never stopping serving those in need,” said Peter Corroon, president of the CCS Board of Trustees. As he welcomed those attending the dinner, he described them as “people who live their faith by serving the most vulnerable among us.” 

Among those at the dinner were Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, diocesan administrator and interim chairman of the CCS Board of Trustees; Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus; the Right Rev. Scott B. Hayashi, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah; President Henry B. Eyring and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox; and numerous other legislators and clergy. Father Anthony Savas of St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church gave the invocation; Father Andrezej Skrzypiec of Saint Ambrose Catholic Church gave the benediction.

In his comments after receiving the Humanitarian of the Year award, President Nelson, a renowned surgeon and medical researcher, expressed his respect and admiration for CCS’ “remarkable work.” CCS resettles more than 600 refugees in Utah each year, and “certainly it is an act of Christian kindness for us to reach out in hospitality and compassion to those who have arrived as strangers among us,” he said.

Last year, in response to the worsening worldwide refugee crisis, the First Presidency of the LDS Church issued a letter inviting church units, families and individuals to participate in local refugee relief projects, and “the response to this invitation has been remarkable,” he said. “Literally thousands of hosts have sought ways that they can best be of help. Many of these good intentions could only be realized because of the groundwork already laid by our friends at the Catholic Community Services, the International Rescue Committee and other refugee settlement organizations here and across the country.”

As President Nelson concluded his remarks, he said, “I pray that we may continue to walk together as partners in this glorious cause while saving and lifting lives, and in so doing we may enjoy a purposeful life.”

Archbishop Wester, who as ninth Bishop of Salt Lake City served as chairman of the CCS Board of Directors, said he was glad for the opportunity to return to Utah, “because this really is my home.” 

Utah is a wonderful model for the United States because of the way that people of different religions, politicians and community leaders “come together for the common good,” the archbishop said, and thanked those present. “You are a vibrant, responsive and loving Church and community of faith. You work well together – all of you,” he said, adding that “Catholic Community Services is more than just an organization or an advocacy group or some kind of social security net, it’s a faith-based community of people dedicated to responding to the call of Jesus Christ to see the Lord’s face in everybody … particularly in the eyes of the poor, those living on the margins, those down on their luck.”

Also during the dinner, Stephen Allen was recognized as the CCS Employee of the Year.