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Two local churches make the effort to feed hot meals to Tracy homeless, but with a slumping economy and without a dedicated community soup kitchen, the lines are rapidly growing.
 Willie Nelson (left) and Michael Skaggs, part of the community targeted by the Snodderlys, talk during their dinner at the Center of Hope Church on Holly Drive. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Their aim in life: Feed the poorer.
Every Monday night for about six weeks now, the weathered middle-aged couple — who without help from a friend would be homeless themselves — serve up hot meals to Tracy’s homeless.
Lately, the dinners have brought crowds of about 100. When it started, only a handful showed up.
Soup-kitchen charities appear to be on the upswing, longtime volunteers at a several local nonprofits point out. Partly because of an ailing economy, some surmise, and partly because the closest shelters and kitchens for the chronically houseless sit more than 20 miles north in Stockton.
Secular or inter-denominational groups run food cabinets or clothing charities in Tracy, but the only hot-meal charities in town are run by religious groups as part of their regular outreach.
In the absence of secular charitable kitchens in Tracy, church volunteers have tried to fill the void.
Though only two regular hot-meal dinners take place regularly in town, as far as many people know, that’s still twice what Tracy’s down-and-out had as recently as two months ago.
Before then, it was on a paltry group of Center of Hope Church volunteers to dish out free food every Wednesday night.
The dinners attract a core group of local homeless.
Regulars at both include a U.S. Army veteran and several disabled guys who say they struggle to find work.
Some smelled like strong liquor Wednesday night. A couple of them talked openly about their battles against addiction and alcoholism.
 Eugene and Carol Snodderly have grand plans to feed and clothe the homeless from the New Heart Community Church on Bessie Avenue. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
"And it’s a way to meet up with my pals," said Nelson, who re-christened himself in honor of the eponymous country singer. He’s been homeless for several years, he said, since a disability left him unable to work.
It’s a story echoed by most in the group.
"We’re a community, a pretty tight one," he said between bites of his first and only helping of what he said was his second good meal this week. "Outside, we live in the shadows."
Inside, the friends joked around under the fluorescent church lights, swapping stories and making fun of each other. Nelson sang a gruff rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues."
Most in his group contented themselves with one plate of food because, Nelson explained, hunger makes the stomach shrink, and there’s no point in saving any for later because it’d go bad without a proper place to put it.
Though most of the homeless diners Wednesday night expressed at least a rudimentary belief in Christianity, they said they appreciate that the church volunteers let them eat and leave if they want to.
"We do encourage them to stay," said Center of Hope pastor Ron Ballew, talking about the after-dinner Bible study he leads. "And we see people trickle in after they eat."
Organizers stress that the meals are free with no strings attached, though volunteers actively encourage takers to stay for a Bible study or to get baptized.
Still, an intent to proselytize seems evident when church volunteers talk about how many people have been baptized because they encountered Christianity by showing up to the free dinners.
Three-year Tracy Dry Bean Festival chili cook-off winner Paul Burgess is the guy who cooks up a fresh menu every week at Center of Hope on Holly Drive. It’s been his charity of choice for the past two years, since he recovered from esophageal cancer that doctors first thought would be fatal.
He openly talks about his goal to "reach out" to the people he feeds.
"Why not share with them after what God did for me?" he asked, apron-clad after an afternoon spent preparing sandwiches for a roomful of diners, many but not all of them homeless.
Ballew is glad that the responsibility rests on local churches.
Still, he ceded, it’s important to keep the preaching out of it. Especially when dealing with what is, in a way, a captive audience.
That’s the stance taken by Tracy Interfaith Ministries, which offers groceries and clothing every weekday to the local poor.
But the Center of Hope and the Snodderlys’ free-for-the-needy dinners remain the only two spots in town where area homeless can expect a sit-down supper.
For a town without an established soup kitchen, the service is vital, volunteers maintain. They hope more people will step up to help by giving money, food or time.
Organizers certainly give all three.
The Snodderlys, who married in Redding nine years ago, understand first-hand the travails faced by the homeless. For years, the two survived years on the streets for one reason or another.
Carol, because of a failed business venture followed by a debilitating addiction to methamphetamine. Eugene, because two open-heart surgeries rendered him legally disabled and unable to work.
Christianity turned their lives around, they say, led them to a generous landlord who lets them live in a trailer on his rural Tracy land and instilled in them a desire to feed the hungry.
"They saw what we were doing and asked how to start it somewhere else," Burgess said of their mirrored effort. "If we could get another church to do this on Friday, we’d have three hot meals for people every week. A network."
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