Amitabh Sharma, Features Coordinator

The Taxpayers Audit and Assessment Department (TAAD) officials played Santa Claus, minus the robes and the flowing beard, last Thursday morning at St. Paul's United Church at Lockett Avenue in Kingston.

The event was a community outreach initiative, in which the staff volunteered to participate to feed the poor and the destitute.

"We wanted to do something for the community," said Dean James, assistant commissioner at TAAD. "The staff has come together to feed the poor of the community."

TAAD had been holding carol ceremonies during Christmas for the last three years. "Last year, the reverend challenged us to take the celebrations beyond, so this year we decided to feed and offer gifts for them," said Dawn Saunders, auditor at TAAD.

"It is well and good to talk but the real joy and spirit of Christmas is about others," said Rev. Euthman Wray, pastor of the St. Paul's United Church, "some of the people here don't even have homes, they will be glad to carry some Christmas warmth."

Special treat

The church feeds the poor every Tuesday and Thursday of the week, but this was a special treat.

"This is something good that people in position are doing for those of us who are not fortunate," said Glyne Green, who is without a job and often survives on the food given in the church.

The hall in the church was filled with frail and the old sipping a hot cup of soup as Cecile Clarke, acting manager, and Petrina Dale, training officer, kept the people in high spirits by singing carols. In the kitchen, Hopeton Pottinger, director, ESOP and superannuation, sweated it out, turning the heat and spicing up jerked chicken.

"This is something that we want to do every year now," said Saunders. "as tax department officers, we are viewed negatively, we also want to say that we are humans too."

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com