As the ancient Sumerian saying goes: Waste not, want not. And it was the waste of a four-course dinner for 200 guests that one couple decided against, after their daughter called off her wedding 40 days before the scheduled nuptials. Instead of simply canceling the event, the parents still held it — inviting 200 of Atlanta’s homeless to a dinner reception.

The couple joined up with a local charity that serves families in need, reports WBUR.org, to transform the former wedding event into the family’s first annual “Celebration of Love” on Saturday.

“We’re very pleased that she’s handling it so well,” says the mother of how her daughter is handling the change in plans (she also attended the event). “She was also very delighted to see and know that others had an opportunity to enjoy something, rather than just allow it to go to waste.”

The head of the charity says she didn’t believe it at first when the couple called the organization with the dinner offer.

“At first, I thought it was a prank call because it was such an amazing offering,” she explained. And then she said she wanted to focus on women and families, that she wanted to focus on children at which 70 percent of the homeless in Atlanta are children.”

Those kids had an especially memorable time at the event. I don’t know about you, but when I was eight I wouldn’t know what to do at such a fancy occasion.

“The passed hors d’oeuvre were very interesting because the children were wondering, ‘could we take the whole tray, or do we just take one off of the tray?’” she explained. “So this was an educational opportunity as well, because now they all know how to eat at a four-course meal and the etiquette involved in that.”

Atlanta Wedding Reception Donated To The Homeless [WBUR.org]

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