SEASON OF GIVING GETS HEAD START IN AREA

Esther Powell has suffered the loneliness of the harvest.

For three years she lived on the streets of the District, a depressed woman who saw Thanksgiving as a time of cruelty.

"I know what these people are going through right now," she said yesterday in the kitchen of Martha's Table, where she works as a volunteer. "This is a time for being home with your family. Well, these people have no home and they have no family."

Today, Washington begins a monthlong holiday season that touches almost everyone in the region, no matter where or whether they worship. For most residents of the area, Thanksgiving and the holidays that follow are times for feasts and fraternity, for coming together and counting blessings. But for the thousands who are poor, hungry or lonely it can be a time of special anguish.

"In the back of everybody's mind there is always the understanding that there were other Thanksgivings and better days," said activist Mitch Snyder of the Community for Creative Non-Violence, which will serve a traditional turkey dinner for homeless people on Thursday in front of the Capitol. "For homeless people this is a time of incredible intensity. There can be real pain."

In an attempt to ease troubled holidays for Washington's needy, dozens of community organizations have organized special meals during the coming week.

Beginning today, the Council of Churches of Greater Washington will distribute food to families, using 21 churches in poorer parts of low-income areas of the District.

Tomorrow, politicians will join religious officials in Montgomery County to kick off an annual hunger relief drive. The Salvation Army will be serving meals tomorrow and Thursday, and so will several major corporations.

Thanksgiving came early at Martha's Table yesterday, as more than 400 people at the community center at 14th and W streets NW were treated to dinners of turkey, yams and fruitcake.

"We have been doing this since 1981," said Olivia Ivy, the director of operations, who added that all the food was donated by local residents. "It's a special event for us, and it is very important that so many people contribute. This is really the time of sharing, and it is so painful to see our men and women on our streets with nothing."

Volunteers for CCNV and several other organizations began collecting food this weekend, preparing to make the holiday a respite -- if only temporary -- from the isolation of subway and building grates and park benches.

"We want everyone in a home or taken care of in some way," said Snyder. "We also want everyone to remember these are not problems that happen two days a year. The homeless are there all the time."

Several major area corporations are donating cash, food and time to help the needy at Thanksgiving.

More than 400 local IBM employes are pitching in again this year. Tomorrow they will begin to sort and pack turkey dinners to be distributed among 1,700 needy families in the area. Using three local IBM facilities, employes will put together dinners that will each feed a family of six.

The D.C. Coalition for the Homeless dished out its annual Thanksgiving meal last night, serving several hundred people turkey and the chance to listen to the music of the D.C. Chapter Choir.

Dozens of churches will hold dinners for the down and out, with the Council of Churches aiming to deliver 7,000 meals during the week, including at least 1,000 to the homes of handicapped and elderly persons.

The council also intends to distribute 20 pounds of potatoes, a five-pound block of cheese and a 10-pound bag of flour to each family that meets its criteria of being in need.

The largest meal will probably be the CCNV dinner at the Capitol, where more than a ton of turkey and trimmings is expected to be served, according to Snyder. Hundreds of people from around the area are contributing their time and bringing turkeys to the feast.

For many who might otherwise have gone hungry, Thanksgiving has already begun.

"Today is my Thanksgiving," said Clifford Bowens, 8, as he washed down his turkey yesterday at Martha's Table with a second glass of orange juice. "Turkey is the best food for any holiday."

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.