INDIANAPOLIS — A bus pulled up in front of the manicured
landscaping of the Ritz Charles in Carmel on Saturday. It was a sunny beautiful
day..
This was supposed to be Sarah Cummins' wedding day. But after the 25-year-old Purdue University pharmacy
student and her fiance, Logan Araujo, canceled their $30,000 wedding a week ago
for undisclosed reasons, the two were left with the non-refundable would-be
celebration.
So Cummins decided to invite people from four
area homeless shelters to enjoy the 170-person reception she and Araujo spent
two years planning.
The guests from Wheeler Mission, Third Phase
Christian Center and Dayspring Center, were selected based on their success in
the mission's Steps Toward Economic and Personal Stability program.
"We want to show them
that if you excel, good stuff happens," Wheeler case manager Bryan
Schrank. "It's a fantastic way to take something that's an
unfortunate event, and to bless others. This is like Thanksgiving 2.0 for these
guys. Many of them have never had a meal like this in their lives — or at least
not in years."
The reception went on as the staff at the Ritz
Charles planned it, event manager Sherry Harper said. Outside of rearranging
the tables to remove the head table and compressing the time, dinner service
happened as planned, right down to serving the wedding cake and the former
couple's late-night snack of pizza. The cake, though, was pre-sliced behind the
scenes.
"We really didn't change anything,"
Harper said.
The story has inspired a wave of goodwill
around the city and beyond. Matt Guanzon was among those reaching out locally.
The Indianapolis man donated some suits from
his own closet so guests could dress up for the dinner, and others pitched in
after he posted a request on his Facebook page. His tailor, A. Mina Fine
Clothier & Tailors on Monument Circle, donated several pieces, and The
Gifted Gown contributed dresses and accessories.
Guanzon, a contract negotiator for United
Healthcare, rushed around Saturday in a cargo vehicle loaned by a friend,
picking up the formal wear and dropping it off at the shelters throughout
Central Indiana.
He even thought of the kids, asking friends to
drop off children’s items at the Ritz before the dinner.
Charlie Allen is grateful for his invitation
and said, "For a lot of us, this is a good time to show us what we can
have. Or to remind us what we had."
Sarah Cummins didn’t feel like attending, but
when one of the homeless program directors said he was looking forward to
meeting her, she knew she had to.
Three of her original seven bridesmaids, along
with her mom and aunts, also came to support her during what they knew would be
a hard day for her.
The Indianapolis Star first reported this story Thursday, and
it was quickly picked up by national and international media. The massive
response, both negative and positive, was overwhelming.
When Cummins approached Araujo, her former
fiancée, with the idea of donating the dinner, he agreed to what he thought was
a selfless way to deal with something that would go to waste.
She's not sure, yet, what she's going to do
with the wedding dress.
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| Sarah Cummins talks with men from Wheeler Mission, at the Ritz Charles, Saturday. |
Edited from USA Today Photo: Kelly Wilkinson - Indy Star
