by David Ball
Staff Writer
Some families have Christmas Eve traditions of gift exchanges, traveling to visit relatives or maybe a backyard game of football. But for the Morans, it involves hundreds of pounds of tomatoes, cheese and pasta dough.
“We never wanted to eat manicotti again,” said Audrey Moran, CEO and president of the Sulzbacher Center.
There in the center’s kitchen, Moran and her family rolled up hundreds of the Italian favorites to feed residents and others in need of food for lunch Monday.
The tradition started five years ago when Moran was having a difficult time finding the necessary volunteers to work Christmas Eve. So, she recruited the family and they’ve been cooking ever since.
“We really do enjoy it, and it means a lot to the kids,” said husband and County Judge John Moran, chopping fresh tomatoes. “It’s easy to forget on Christmas how much we have and how much other people don’t have.”
But the Moran-made-meal was only part of the joy being spread at the Sulzbacher Center Monday, as Mc-N-Lew Inc. brought a dump truck filled with bags of Christmas gifts for 125 of the children at the center.
“This is something I wanted to do to help the kids,” said owner Stan McGhee, who wrote the checks that wife Fadia McGhee spent on the toys.
“God has been good to us all year, and we know it’s better to give than to receive.”