Marisa Bengtson-Loerzel’s three children, including 12-year-old Hayden (shown here), have helped Mom make Christmas bright for less fortunate families and individuals since she started the Joy Project in 2013. (Photo/Marisa Loerzel.)

The Joy Project grew from a random observation as the holiday season approached 10 years ago. “We were living in south Moorhead near what was then called the Grand Inn,” Marisa Bengtson-Loerzel remembers. “I was driving down Eighth Street when I noticed a school bus dropping some young children off there.

“I was confused at first. Then it struck me: That was their home. Those children lived there!”

By the time she pulled into her own nearby driveway, she’d put the pieces together. “Their families didn’t have kitchens. They had no way to cook. I had to do something,” she says. “I went on Facebook and asked, ‘Who wants to help?'”

That was the beginning. Now, what began as her friends stepped up to help has become an exemplary volunteer effort that, this week, will touch 600 children and adults living in temporary housing across Moorhead and Fargo — the Joy Project.

On Saturday night, the work of some 700 volunteers over the past two months will culminate in hot, savory Christmas meals in a host of temporary “homes” across the cities. Among them: the Bright Sky Apartments and Dorothy Day House in Moorhead, and, in Fargo, the Grand Inn, Motel 6, Ronald McDonald House, New Horizons Manor, Stepping Stones Resource Center and the Gladys Ray Shelter, all in Fargo.

At most locations, volunteer servers will dish up and distribute festive plates of home-cooked food — cooked in the homes, that is, of dozens of volunteer chefs, as well as in the Square One commercial kitchen. “The ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing and desserts are delicious, of course but it’s the camaraderie that really makes the meals festive. We want to bring people together to celebrate,” Marisa points out. “Our volunteers and our guests sit down and eat together and get to know each other a bit. Over the years, we’ve developed some of the best friendships from this project.”

Unlike most other large volunteers who bring Christmas cheer, the Joy Project was born and has thrived with no institutional support. Marisa and her long-standing corps of Christmas helpers receive no guidance or funding from government or agencies. Instead, they — and mostly she — raise the money that buys groceries themselves, generally from individuals and businesses who have supported their efforts for years.

Her fund-raising begins in mid-November. During that first year, she received $200 for groceries from her friends and fed 65 people. This year, the cost of groceries to feed the far larger number of meals and 600-plus people they’ll serve reached $1,500 … all collected within a few weeks.

That’s not all. “We want every single person to receive a gift,” she says. Those, too, are largely gathered from her own appeals on Facebook to her 900 or so online friends. This year, children’s presents also came from WDAY TV’s Christmas toy drive, as well as a karaoke contest of By Request DJ, in which contributing a toy was the price of entry.

For the second year, too, the students at Horizon Middle School have also pitched in. They cut out and assembled some 150 fleece blankets to be given out on Christmas Eve. The yardage was donated, of course; when Marisa spotted fleece on sale for $4 a yard, she says, “I did a blurt on Facebook, and 50 people or so went out and bought supplies for us.” She has also teamed up with another Christmas charity, Warm Blanket Hugs. “Blankets are such meaningful gifts of comfort and warmth,” she remarks. “People have spent literally thousands of hours making them.”

Earlier this week, the Loerzel basement was stuffed with wrapped gifts sorted into colorful sacks, awaiting delivery. Marisa’s children — Hayden, 12, Logan, 14, and Addie, 17 — were hard at work matching donated toys with the ages and presumed interest of children who would receive them. It’s been a family tradition since that first Christmas in 2013 when they were much younger. As their mother calls it, it’s “service learning for kids.”

Joy Project deliveries have become a cherished family tradition for the kids, Marisa and her husband Brian. “The kids wake up early and come with me for absolutely everything,” she reports. Dressed up as elves, they knock on doors and drop off sacks of presents.

By the last hours before Christmas Day, they’re home again … exhausted. “I love to go out and around to see the excitement,” Marisa says. “I never know exactly where I’ll be. All I know is I’ll be somewhere helping out and being festive.

“At this point, I can’t imagine our not doing this,” she muses. “No one should be alone at Christmas.”