Oct. 12 was a heartbreaking day for the Duane family when they realized that their daughter, 27-year-old Quinn, would not be getting married after the groom-to-be got cold feet and called off what was meant to be a Saturday wedding.
With deposits already paid and more bills to come, the family turned the disappointment into something positive for the less fortunate: They decided to offer the meal from the $35,000 wedding to the homeless, KCRA reports.
“When I found out on Monday that the wedding would not be taking place, it just seemed like, of course, this would be something that we would do to give back,” Kari Duane, the mother of the bride, told the news station.
That’s how, on Saturday, a banquet hall at Sacramento, Calif.’s Citizen Hotel was filled with the city’s homeless, eating their fill of meals that are normally offered at the hotel’s four-star restaurant, such as gnocchi, salmon and tri-tip.
“When you’re going through a hard time and a struggle for you to get out to do something different and with your family, it was really a blessing,” Rashad Abdullah, who came with his wife and five children, told the news station.
His wife, Erika Craycraft, was amazed at the Duane family’s generosity in the face of heartbreak. “To lose out on something so important to yourself and then give it to someone else is really giving, really kind,” Craycraft said.
“I feel a lot of heartache and heartbreak for her, but I will take away something good from this, I will,” Kari Duane said to the news station about her daughter, who decided to stay home with friends while her mother hosted the new guests.
Read more at KCRA.