SAN DIEGO -- The volunteers slowly trickled in and by 5:30 p.m. the doors had opened at the Salvation Army in downtown San Diego, with a steady stream of homeless people parking bikes and sleeping bags out front before heading in for some hot soup, a sandwich and pizza.

They fed 160 homeless people at the Salvation Army that night.

Afterward, the volunteers cleaned tables and gathered around as former gang members who served long-term prison sentences shared their testimony to teenagers from McAlister Institute, a teen recovery center serving as a 21-day detox from doing drugs.

At the center of that group hovered Dick Lewis, the community outreach director for the Los Angeles Chargers. He stood in front of the crowd and talked about his favorite subject -- love.

"They came in and you gave them love," Lewis said about feeding the homeless. And then, steadying his hand and waving a shaky finger: "You don't want your kids to follow you, but if you don't talk to them about love, they will follow you right to prison.

"You have to talk to them."

Lewis has served as the team's community liaison since 2012 after spending 26 years as its director of security. And at the center of his service has been over two decades of feeding the homeless.

Even though the Chargers moved north to Los Angeles, Lewis stayed in San Diego, continuing his role there helping the underserved in this community.

"He is like a rock-type person," said Larry Johnson, a minister who works with inmates getting out of prison and the homeless in a faith-centered residential treatment facility. "He's one when you listen to his message is pure love, which is hard to come by. He's just been a rock at that thing, and that's why it's lasted that long.

"Whenever I bring our men down, I know what they're going to get. He's faithful. He's learned. He knows faithfulness and he knows suffering. He hasn't forgotten suffering. And he keeps himself in the midst of it and giving back that compassion he has."

Lewis turned 80 years old on Dec. 22. And he is a survivor. He lost his wife to a heart attack while serving in Vietnam. Lewis lost his son years later. He fought off throat and stomach cancer, and still remains focused on serving the less fortunate.

"He has a big heart and is one of the most generous people," said Ed McGuire, the Chargers executive vice president of football administration. "Better than having him move up, he stayed where he could be a resource for the organization in San Diego and do what he's historically done. He's been great.

"He'll give you the shirt off his back -- that describes Dick Lewis. Nothing's about him; it's always about the greater good and helping less fortunate in our society."

Lewis helps serve the homeless every Thursday at the Salvation Army, a program supported by the Chargers and still going on for the past two decades.

"He started this, but he was quiet about it," Lewis said about Chargers chairman Dean Spanos. "He said to me as long as you feed them, I'll pay for it. And that's what he's been doing. Nobody needs to know. He's a very silent man, and he's a good man."

During the week, Lewis serves as the lead singer for "Timeout" -- a musical group that sings old R&B songs to seniors at retirement homes.

Chargers defensive tackle Corey Liuget is one of the dozens of players over the years who has helped to serve the homeless or interacted with seniors in the community. He appreciates Lewis and his commitment.

"He's the definition of giving back," Liuget said. "And making sure you don't forget about the elderly, because at one point in time they were young like us, with a lot of energy and spirit.

"A lot of kids put their parents in convalescent homes and they tend to forget about them. But with my grandparents, I made sure to spend time with them, and let them know that I care about them and love them."

Lewis is a native of Bay City, Texas, about 82 miles south of Houston. He grew up picking cotton, mowing lawns, shining shoes -- whatever he could to earn money to support his family. With a bit of coaxing, at the age of 16 he got his mother to sign a waiver so he could join the Navy early.

His first stop was San Diego.

From 1955 to 1968, Lewis served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy. He performed two, 13-month tours in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Lewis spent 20 years as a patrol officer for the San Diego Police Department before joining the Chargers as the director of security in 1989. He later returned to school to earn bachelor and doctorate degrees in law.

"I would seek out and feed the homeless whenever I could. It was very difficult," Lewis said about his time as a police officer, which included dealing with racial tension in the 1970s and 80s. "I thought one way and everyone else thought another way.

"But I worked for Chief of Police Bill Colander and he was a man among men. You've got to get to know the ins and outs of people."

Getting to know the ins and outs of people is what keeps Lewis going at this latter stage of his life.

"It's about serving each other," said Rito Arciaga, who helps with Lewis and serves as the keyboard player in the group. "That's what makes us so unique. We know how to serve, and we want to serve. Our ideas are different at times, but we get the job done."