Holiday treat for Utah needy

FARMINGTON — Barbara Frodsham knows how to celebrate Christmas.

Along with her family and a lot of friends, she entertained so many people Saturday that there were enough crockpots to trip the breakers at the Frodshams' Farmington farm.

But when you're cooking for 600, you need a few crockpots.

The family farm was the site for Saturday's 15th Frodsham Community Christmas for the Homeless and Needy, an event that invites those who may not have much of a Christmas to share a family celebration with the Frodshams (although, these days, much of the community is there, too).

"Some kids never get to ride a horse or roast a marshmallow," Barbara said. "This is just for people who need things."

"We want to make it a family oriented event," said Bret Frodsham, Barbara's oldest son.

For them, a family event seems to include wrapped gifts, Santa's workshop, pictures with Santa, quilts, clothes, food, marshmallow bonfires, horse rides and sleigh rides. Children leave with a sack of goodies, and everyone eats well. For every invited guest, a host is assigned — a volunteer the same age as the participant, who speaks the same language and can lead the guest through the maze of festivities.

"Everyone wants to do something, they just don't know when and where," said Frank Frodsham, Barbara's husband. "We just provide a place."

The Frodshams have seven children, 27 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all of whom travel from near and far to attend the event. But these days, the event is so large they need a lot of help from the community.

"The community really takes over," Bret said. "People who have been served in previous years have come back to be hostesses and return the favor."

It started 15 years ago when Barbara Frodsham's friend came to her days before Christmas, miserable about a divorce she was going through.

"She had to do something to get her mind off it," Barbara said.

So Frodsham and her friend brought homeless and needy Utahns to the Frodshams' home on Christmas Eve to give them their own holiday celebration. With the help of donations from neighbors, the Frodshams threw a Christmas party for 67 needy people.

On Saturday, 600 people were invited from local groups and centers, and there were more than 600 volunteers. Participation was by invitation only. (There have been problems in the past with people taking advantage of the community's generosity.)

"We have had issues with the professional homeless," Bret said. "They roll up in brand new Suburbans and send the kids in to get stuff. These days we have the Delta Center security, who have helped to cut down on that a lot."

"A lot of people donate very lovely things," Barbara said. "We tell them if you wouldn't wear it or you don't want it, we don't want it, either."

Guests and volunteers line up in the street to get in. But once they're inside, it's a different story.

"You really can't feel any separation between hosts and the homeless," Brett said. "The name tags fade away. Once they're through the gate, that separation fades away."

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Contributing: Amelia Nielson-Stowell

E-mail: jgreaves@desnews.com