This is a story of helping hands giving a helping hand to other helping hands.

Fairmont’s Soup Opera has been feeding homeless people for more than 30 years.

At Christmastime the Soup Opera, which serves more than 30,000 meals a year to the homeless, also gives out about 300 gift packages to children who need a helping hand from Santa Claus and their parents.

My sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville, is in charge of St. Peter the Fisherman’s outreach program that helps people in need. So Jackie and her elves, including daughter Belinda Straight Morris, gathered up enough donations from St. Peter parishoners and others for 107 gift boxes.

They delivered the 107 gift boxes to the Soup Opera, which hands out about 300 gift boxes every Christmas. Each gift wrapped box from the St. Peter saintly folks contains a sweatshirt, gloves, hat and socks.

In the 20 years that Jackie has been director of the St. Peter outreach program there have been almost 3,000 gifts donated to children by the parish. They are Santa’s volunteer elves.

Jackie said:

“It’s sad that we have so many people that need help but happy that our parish is very generous. I’m happy to know we have helped to keep folks warmer this winter.”

Jackie's outreach group also distributes gifts to the needy at Easter and about any other holiday that will give them an excuse to do good works.

No wonder Catholic Charities gave Jackie its Salt and Light Award for her decades of charity work. She got the award in 2011, but Jackie keeps earning her Salt and Light status. I’m proud to have her as my only sibling.

It all started with our mother, Lena Futten Olesky, who never turned away anyone who came to our home seeking food. Mom set them down and cooked a meal for them. That’s how we learned to care for others less fortunate than us.

The Fairmont Soup Opera has a new executive director, Jennifer Smith, who moved from Soup Opera board member to executive director when Sheila Skidmore Tennant retired from the position she took in 1984. Jackie has worked helping hand in helping hand with Sheila for about 20 of those years.

Jennifer’s husband was a Soup Opera volunteer when the Lewis County native and former Washington, DC resident moved to Marion County to be closer to her aging father. Jennifer started volunteering alongside her husband for 10 years. And now is the loving whipcracker for the volunteers.

Jennifer once worked at the Fairmont Times-West Virginia in sales and owned and ran her own business.

The Soup Opera began in February 1983 when Sharon and Larry Zaccagnini, who had been feeding and housing the homeless in their residence, founded the charity group. Sheila became executive director the next year.

Fairmont Times editor John Veasey, who often promoted the Soup Opera and Operation Sweatshirt operations in his widely read column, retired in 2016.