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Group takes Thanksgiving to scavengers

People and dogs gather at a trash truck Thursday in a dump called La Espiga, about25 miles south of the Salvadoran capital, where a group of 16 Americans brought Thanksgiving dinner to people who scavenge trash. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Diego Mendez Associated Press
People and dogs gather at a trash truck Thursday in a dump called La Espiga, about25 miles south of the Salvadoran capital, where a group of 16 Americans brought Thanksgiving dinner to people who scavenge trash. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – It wasn’t exactly traditional, but the food flown here by U.S. residents to share with families who scavenge society’s trash caught the heart of the holiday.

“We never imagined this,” beamed Jose Duran – who survives on the refuse at La Espiga dump – as he feasted on a fresh chicken dinner with his wife and two children.

“We live in misery,” he said, adding that sometimes an entire day’s work collecting cans earns just 25 cents.

Like many others, the Durans survive by sorting through waste to find old tin cans and other items they can sell or even use themselves.

The journey to the unusual Thanksgiving dinner began when scavengers caught the attention of a Mormon missionary. He suggested to a group in Salt Lake City that they should help the 300 or so families at La Espiga dump in San Luis Talpa, on the southern outskirts of San Salvador.

The group formed Soles for Souls to provide shoes for the scavengers, many of whom are forced to go barefoot and suffer severe infections from cutting their feet on broken glass and other sharp objects in the dumps.

Soles for Souls has collected $30,000 worth of donated shoes, school supplies, clothing and toys that will be handed out to the poor near the dumps.

For the Thanksgiving feast, the nonprofit group held a silent auction.

“In the United States, this is a day of giving thanks and we decided to offer a meal to give thanks to God and give adults and children here a happy day,” said Brooks Dame, a 25-year-old who helped organize Soles for Souls.

Instead of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner, the families requested a Salvadoran favorite: fried chicken from one of the country’s most popular fast food restaurants, Pollo Campero.

Veronica Van Leeuwen, a member of Soles for Souls and El Salvador’s honorary consul in Salt Lake City, said the families usually eat Pollo Campero they dig out of the trash. They had specifically requested the meal for the Thanksgiving feast, she said.

Van Leeuwen, who has lived in the United States for 26 years, said her group picked Thanksgiving for their pilot project because it seemed like a “symbol of the holiday and everything we take for granted.”

“Many of the collaborators sacrificed their time and left their families, but they were happy to come here to be with the people and kids,” Van Leeuwen said.

She said the group members decided to come and share their meal on the dump because they wanted to get to know the people they were helping and not just “meet with officials and say, ‘This is what we did.’ “

Van Leeuwen said the Thanksgiving feast was only the first of several projects planned for the people of La Espiga. “We want to make a long-term commitment, not just come and say, ‘That’s it,’ ” she said.