MALDEN, MASS. (WHDH) - A father-son duo, along with dozens of volunteers, helped spread holiday cheer by delivering more than 1,000 meals to those in need in Malden on Christmas Day.
Dr. Ed Weiner and his son, Jonathan Weiner, have now been partaking in this Christmas dinner initiative, called Project Ezra, for more than 30 years.
“Even though this is the Jewish community, for the most part, cooking and serving, and delivering…it’s still so nice to see people on Christmas,” said Dr. Weiner.
Volunteers started cooking and preparing the food in the Malden High School cafeteria at 1 a.m. on Christmas Day.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Weiner was forced to adapt the project by taking the meals on the go. Some of the meals went out for deliveries and others were packaged for pick up at the high school.
“We have had to go strictly dine and dash and deliveries. We usually have people come in here. It’s usually filled with people eating Christmas lunch, but unfortunately, we can’t do that,” he said.
The project has gained a great deal of support, even from Malden’s mayor, who volunteered to make some special deliveries.
“It’s just been part of our fabric for all these years and I think what makes it especially so is with the new COVID variant we weren’t sure if this was going to happen,” said Mayor Gary Christenson.
The Bread of Life Food Pantry, the Malden Mayor’s Office, and two local synagogues all took part in the event on Saturday.
Together, they cooked up 500 pounds of roast beef, 300 potatoes, and mountains of carrots, green beans, and desserts to make sure no one in the community went hungry during the holiday.
(Copyright (c) 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)