QCK 2025 Holiday Message
“The work of Christmas begins ‘when the song of the angels is stilled, the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, and the shepherds return to their flocks.’”
Making Room for Others During the Frenetic Holiday Season
Executive Director Hugh Ralston | December 2025
In the frenzy of another holiday season, each family has its own traditions—the light show at the Zoo, sing-a-long Messiahs, pageants and concerts with beloved carols and seasonal music, favorite recipes consumed at holiday meals, cards and year-end letters, gatherings to share good tidings and open presents—we have many ways of celebrating the birth of Jesus, both the baby in the manger and the savior to be crucified. Often touchstones of happier times, new memories are forged and old friendships renewed with a call, a hug and mug of cocoa—illuminated by colored lights reflected in both the snow and cold.
Holidays are stressful for many neighbors, those living on the edge or from paycheck to paycheck, especially those struggling with government programs that have a huge impact on budgets, pantries and daily life. The return of cold weather makes living on the streets or in homeless shelter challenging, especially if it is too cold to stay outdoors but not cold enough for a shelter to open. Staying dry and warm can be a daily hurdle.
Many feel left out of the communal celebrations, when the joys of the holiday season are sparse or feel out of tune with our hearts, where loneliness and sorrow become holiday partners, or when the celebrations are stifled with painful memories or broken relationships. Even Hallmark movies acknowledge difficulties, regardless of preordained happy endings.
And yet, as we have seen at Queen City Kitchen, there is good reason to believe that—even in these fractious times—the bands that connect people have not been severed.
In the weeks before Thanksgiving, while politicians in Washington were scoring points with the federal government shutdown, folks stepped up to the plate by donating cans of food and organizing food drives. Collecting donations from neighbors and fellow apartment dwellers, one group delivered over 4,000 lbs. of food in a week, worth close to $15,000—dropped off in bags, crates and boxes and unloaded from full trunks, station wagons and SUVs. Others arrived with boxes of canned goods, fresh flowers or just an extra bag of groceries to share. A donated turkey not needed was passed on for another family.
What a tremendous gift—worthy not only of grateful thanks, which we freely shout out—but wrapped in a message to our guests they are not alone, that there are folks who care about those living different or more difficult stories, and that the spirit of community has not left our streets.
Queen City Kitchen is entering its 50th year, both a testament to the ongoing need for food in Cincinnati and to the resilience and generosity of those to make sure folks don’t go hungry and to share fellowship in a place that treats them with respect and kindness. Five meals per week of good hot nutritious food and access to a choice pantry weekly to fill up the food shelves with not just canned goods and fresh vegetables/fruits but also health care and personal care items—all purchased from or donated by our generous food partners. We provide guests with turkey meals at Christmas and Thanksgiving, a toy drive for the children of our guests and restock a clothes exchange with warm and usable clothing.
We are blessed by volunteers and organizations that provide food and deliver meals on the weekends and by individuals and families who serve during the week. Some have volunteered for decades while others join us for a day to help someone else. We are grateful to partner each finds in us ways to serve others with their time, generosity and welcome hands. Last year, our volunteers donated over 2600 hours of service, a number we will exceed this year. That, too, is a blessing we celebrate this season of thanks!
Our founder Fr. Tom Bokenkotter believed that Cincinnati was a better place when folks came together to help those struggling at the edge, and who needed reminding they too were children of God. A half century later, his successors are still delivering that mission, as one of volunteers said: “Cincinnati needs Queen City Kitchen; our guests need Queen City Kitchen”.
“Cincinnati needs Queen City Kitchen; our guests need Queen City Kitchen.”
Theologian Howard Thurman reminded us the work of Christmas begins “when the song of the angels is stilled, the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, and the shepherds return to their flocks”. That work is “to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.” That is our guiding charge every day.
This year may the festivities we enjoy and holiday music that lightens our days continue into the new year, as we work together to heal the brokenness in our community and deliver the work of Christmas – if only one meal at a time. It will make all the difference—to you, our city and to our guests.
