Scrooge Volunteers at Feed My Starving Children

by Dan Deuel

The good people at the Libertyville-based charitable organization Feed My Starving Children are accustomed to welcoming all kinds of civic groups to their operations to help package food for the needy around the world. However, recently this philanthropic group had a most unlikely volunteer arrive at its doors. Normally when one thinks of charitable endeavors and the spirit of giving during the holidays, the name Ebenezer Scrooge does not generally come to mind. On the other hand, this is precisely what took place when Matt Hallstein, the lead in Citadel Theatre Company’s current production of A Christmas Carol, showed that even the world’s most famous skinflint can give from the heart. Mr. Hallstein, who portrays the notorious miser from the classic Dickensian Christmas story, organized a large contingent from the cast and crew of the Lake Forest production to help on the assembly line of Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). A previous stint with the charity and his family gave Hallstein the notion that volunteering for an evening with FMSC might help develop some camaraderie within the cast and crew and help remind all involved in the show of the compassionate message Charles Dickens wrote over 160 years ago.

With Black Friday looming and the holiday retail madness starting earlier each season, Hallstein said, “We can easily lose track of the true meaning of Christmas, that the holiday season is a time to give from the heart and extend kindness and compassion to those in need, particularly when the world has an abundance of people who are hungry and in want of common comforts right now.” Pam from FMSC said, “The food packages that are prepared at the Libertyville center are delivered to the needy all over the globe.” Typically, an evening of volunteerism consists of ten to 15 people working at eight production stations filling plastic bags with one of three meal formulas packed with soy or potato protein, dried vegetables, and vitamins and minerals that provide everything needed for a malnourished child to recover. The evening the Christmas Carol participants worked the production line, a combined total of 3,500 meals were prepared for shipment to Haiti.

Back in rehearsal, Hallstein and the rest of the cast and crew are busy learning their lines, building sets and getting all that goes into a professional production up and on its feet. But as they go through all of their theatrical chores that need to be done, they do so with a renewed sense of the lessons that the time-honored story shares each holiday season.

To learn more about Feed My Starving Children and how your group or organization can help, visit their website at www.fmsc.org.

The Citadel Theatre Company production of A Christmas Carol runs November 29 to December 29 at their performance space located at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. For tickets and more information, call 847-735-8554, or go to their website at www.citadeltheatre.org.