By DONNA SILBERBERG

When a little extra money came her way just before Easter, Local 1549 member Arlene Bunce had an inspiration.

Her inspiration put Easter dinner on the table for about 150 homeless people in Brooklyn.

“I just made up my mind I was going to do something about feeding the homeless for Easter,” said Ms. Bunce, who had never done anything like this before.

Because there were five Fridays in March, city employees received an “extra” paycheck shortly before Easter. “I decided I would spend the money giving back to the community,” she said.

Ms. Bunce has been an Eligibility Specialist since 1983. She works at the Brooklyn Computer Match Unit of the Dept. of Social Services.

She had a particular shelter in mind, the city’s Auburn Family Shelter in Ft. Greene, which houses about 300 homeless adults and children. “It’s close to where I grew up, and I’ve been by it many times, but I never saw any kids outside playing. Maybe they were all shut up inside,”she said.

Ms. Bunce called Auburn. Officials said she could not bring food inside, but she agreed to feed people on the sidewalk in front of the building on Easter Day.

After they heard what Ms. Bunce was doing, about 20 of her CMU co-workers and Local 1549 members chipped in. First they prepared informational fliers to hand out at the shelter. When it was time for the cooking and preparation, one person supplied the utensils, two members made macaroni salad and three turkeys, and another co-worker donated hams.

On the day before Easter, Ms. Bunce, her co-workers and her daughter Vanessa met at Vanessa’s house to cook.

Ms. Bunce and her daughter also prepared 120 Easter baskets with jellybeans and chocolate bunnies for the homeless children. They put all of this into shopping carts and rolled it the three blocks to the shelter.

All afternoon on Easter Day, they served food to the men, women and children of the Auburn shelter.

“The children were so happy! Someone asked me, ‘What organization or church are you from?’ ” Ms. Bunce recalled, “and I replied that I’m just someone who wants to give back. I would like to do this every Easter.”