![\"'Christmas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/C78963ECF6501E43C93EE2B0514134BF.jpg\")
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CHICAGO<\/strong> – While many celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and cookouts, one South Side nonprofit brought a touch of holiday spirit to summer heat with a unique event called “Christmas in July.”<\/p>\n At 55th and Marshfield, picnic tables were packed, the grill was fired up, and community members gathered not just for food \u2014but for fellowship.<\/p>\n Thanks to House of Refuge Ministries International, more than 365 people were served hot meals \u2014 completely free of charge.<\/p>\n “We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, drinks, and the snow cones, and we had prayer,” said <\/strong>Pastor Sharon Foley, House of Refuge Ministries International.<\/p>\n Since 2013, Pastor Foley and her team have served the community with meals, wellness services, and unwavering support \u2014 no strings attached.<\/p>\n “I am called to be a blessing. And so, what better day to do it on than the holiday?” Foley said.<\/p>\n For many, it wasn\u2019t just about the food. It was about being seen, being heard \u2014 and being part of something larger.<\/p>\n This “Christmas in July” may not have had snow, but it certainly delivered warmth. If you missed today\u2019s giveaway, House of Refuge will be back next month \u2014 and every month.\u00a0<\/p>\n For more information or to support their mission, visit www.horministries.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Source:<\/b> Details for this story were provided by the House of Refuge Ministries International and an interview with Sharon Foley.<\/p>\n Chicago<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO – While many celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and cookouts, one South Side nonprofit brought…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,5386,1818,50,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-40027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}