One couple’s misfortune turned into a positive situation for a large group of homeless people in Georgia. When Tamara Fowler, the daughter of Willie and Carol Fowler, decided to cancel her wedding just 40 days before its date, the Fowlers decided to start the Fowler Family Celebration of Love.
Instead of canceling the entertainment, catering and venue they had already booked for 200 people, they decided on inviting the homeless to participate in an evening they normally wouldn’t be able to take part in.
“It was a vision," Carol Fowler said of Willie’s idea to donate to the Hosea Feed the Hungry nonprofit organization that benefits the homeless. "He said he had prayed on it during the night and God had directed him and that's what we were going to do."
Carol also told ABC News it was a “wonderful, rewarding feeling.”
Quisa Foster of Feed the Hungry said when they got the call, they thought it was a “prank.”
"It's a very creme de la creme wedding venue, so to say that you're going to host 200 homeless individuals at Villa Christina -- it sounds like a prank call,” Foster said.
Carol also told WBUR that the family hopes to hold the event annually. She also told others to keep this story in mind if a planned live event happens to go awry.
“Events are canceled, and sometimes for unknown reasons,” she said. “Do not allow that opportunity to go to waste. Call up your favorite charity. Give them an opportunity to use that for people that will not have an opportunity, perhaps in life.”