Community Council: Union Station Homeless Services
Union Station Homeless Services is part of a premier group of human services agencies in Los Angeles County that are leading the way to ending homelessness in our community. They are the San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency assisting homeless and very low-income adults and families. Since 1973, Union Station has helped rebuild the lives of thousands of people who were once homeless and without hope.
This year, UHSH is hosting a Dinner In The Park at Pasadena Central Park on Christmas Day! This incredible community event provides thousands of holiday meals and hope for all who attend, including homeless men, women, children, seniors, very low-income families, and those with no place to go during the holidays. The impact of this event in the community is huge!
To spread holiday cheer and joy, hundreds of volunteers of all ages will gather together on Christmas Day to serve meals at Union Station Homeless Services’ 43rd annual Dinner-in-the-Park.
For more than four decades, this beloved tradition has been a staple event for the community during the holiday season.
Donned in hairnets, gloves and welcoming smiles, hundreds of volunteers will serve warm holiday meals to all who are hungry at Pasadena’s Central Park on Christmas Day.
“The event brings the community together!” said Ginger Mort, member of the Los Angeles Disney VoluntEAR Leadership Council and a Union Station Dinner-in-the-Park volunteer since 2001. “Even if it is for one day, hopefully one day leads to another and another and so on and so on!”
Union Station Homeless Services and its volunteers served more than 3,500 plates of food on Thanksgiving, and the agency expects to serve an additional 1,500 plates of food on Christmas Day.
Meal recipients will include adults and families experiencing homelessness and poverty, senior citizens, and those who are alone at the holidays or unable to afford a holiday meal.
In addition to volunteers, the event is made possible thanks to generous partners:
Tsutayo Ichioka & Satsuki Nakao Foundation, HomeStreet Bank, SuperKing Markets, Longo Toyota Scion Lexus, Pasadena Federal Credit Union, Dove Properties, Pasadena Convention Center, Norton Rose Fullbright, Paul Hastings, Centerplate, Chipotle, and Whole Foods.
“The Pasadena Convention Center and Centerplate is thrilled to support Union Station Homeless Services by preparing turkeys for Dinner-in-the-Park,” said Michael Ross, CEO, Pasadena Center Operating Company. “We applaud Union Station’s work to serve thousands of meals to the hungry and homeless during the holiday season and are pleased to participate in such a worthwhile cause.”
“Dinner-in-the-Park is truly a community event and simply would not be possible without the help of dedicated volunteers and dozens of businesses who make this event such a success,” said Marv Gross, CEO of Union Station.
All who are able to help are invited to donate their time, food items or funds to this incredible holiday outreach program.
• Union Station Homeless Services is still in need of non-perishable food donations.
• A wish list of items needed can be found on the event pageat https://unionstationhs.org/event/dinner-in-the-park-2015/.
• The community is invited to drop off these supplies in the indicated sizes at 412 S. Raymond, Pasadena.
• Please Note: Due to Health Department regulations, Union Station Homeless Services is no longer able to accept turkey or prepared food donations at the event.
About Union Station Homeless Services
Union Station Homeless Services, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is committed to helping homeless men, women and children rebuild their lives. Union Station Homeless Services is part of a premier group of human services agencies in Los Angeles County that are leading the way to ending homelessness in our community. Headquartered in Pasadena, we are the San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency assisting homeless and very low-income adults and families. We believe every person deserves a life of dignity and a safe place to call home. With over 40 years of experience, we proudly offer a full continuum of nine programs throughout the San Gabriel Valley; services include street outreach, intake/assessment, care coordination and navigation, meals, shelter, housing, employment development, benefits enrollment, and referrals to medical and mental health services.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (FOX 11 / CNS) – Thanksgiving will be marked in Los Angeles County today by large gatherings on Skid Row and in Pasadena and Canoga Park to feed homeless and poor residents, and distance races that include charitable aspects.
Actors Dick Van Dyke and Ed Begley Jr. are expected to be among more than 300 volunteers serving Thanksgiving brunch at The Midnight Mission to thousands of homeless or nearly homeless men, women and children. Food bags and donated clothing will also be distributed.
“Of the many services The Midnight Mission provides to our unique community, one of the most important is the sense of family we offer to those who often feel lost and forgotten during the holidays and other days of
celebration,” said Georgia Berkovich, the mission’s director of public affairs.
“Now, more than ever, we need to work together to restore hope and dignity to those in need.”
The Fred Jordan Mission on Skid Row will hold its annual Thanksgiving banquet, serving more than one ton of turkey, topped by 80 gallons of gravy, to homeless people and working families who can’t afford to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, organizers said.
The meal will also include 585 pounds of green beans, 560 pounds of candied yams, 500 pounds of mashed potatoes, hundreds of pounds of traditional cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, 400 pumpkin pies and 220 gallons of fruit punch.
Guests will also receive a family food gift bag.
About 5,000 Thanksgiving dinners are expected to be served to adults and families experiencing homelessness and poverty, senior citizens and those who are alone or unable to afford a holiday meal at Union Station Homeless Services’ Dinner-in-the-Park at Central Park in Pasadena, continuing a tradition that began in 1972.
Volunteer registration for Thanksgiving has closed. Registration to volunteer for the organization’s Christmas Dinner-in-the-Park will begin Dec. 1 on its website, unionstationhs.org.
More than 2,000 people will be served turkey dinners at the 28th annual free Community Thanksgiving Day dinner for the area’s homeless and low-income families at Guadalupe Community Center in Canoga Park.
The public is invited to the 16th annual Gentle Thanksgiving at The Gentle Barn in Santa Clarita, which will feature vegetarian food, a bonfire, Native American drum circle and the opportunity to feed turkeys “that have
been rescued from Thanksgiving,” according to organizers.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2015 annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress released last week, the one-night estimate of homelessness found that the Los Angeles Continuum of Care had the nation’s second-largest amount of homeless people, 41,174, and second-
largest percentage of unsheltered homeless people, 70.3 percent, among major cities’ continuums of care.
The estimate found there were 6,781 more homeless people in the Los Angeles Continuum of Care in 2015 than 2014, a 20 percent increase. A continuum of care is the local planning body responsible for coordinating the full range of homelessness services in a geographic area. The Los Angeles Continuum of Care consists of all of Los Angeles County except for Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach.
Distance races have also become a growing Thanksgiving tradition.
The inaugural Drumstick Dash on the back lot of CBS Studios in Studio City will consist of a timed competitive 5K race, a timed community 5K run/walk and a Kids Fun Run.
Funds raised through registrations and sponsorships will be used toprovide hot meals, housing, health care and other basic needs to the homeless in the San Fernando Valley.
Organizers hope to make this an annual event.
The Turkey Trot Los Angeles 5K and 10K races will start and end at City Hall. The course will go through Bunker Hill and on Spring Street, passing The Broad contemporary art museum, Grand Park, Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Museum of Contemporary Art.
Some runners will be dressed as turkeys, Pilgrims and pies, according to organizers.
Participants are encouraged to donate time or money to The Midnight Mission.
The third annual 5-kilometer Tofurky Trot will be held outside the Rose Bowl, with prizes going to the top finishers in the men’s, women’s and kids divisions and for the best-costumed runner. Rescued turkeys from The Gentle Barn will be the guests of honor.
Profits from the race will be donated to The Gentle Barn and the National Museum of Animals and Society.
The sixth annual Burbank Community YMCA Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot will be run on a double-loop course in downtown Burbank, with 5- and 10-kilometer races, a 5-kilometer “fun run/walk” and a “kiddie run” for
children 9 years old and younger.
Proceeds from the race will benefit the Burbank Community YMCA’s membership assistance program, which makes its facilities and programs available to the children and families in the city, regardless of ability to
pay.
The first official Thanksgiving was held in the Virginia Colony on Dec. 4, 1619. The traditional meal stems from one held in 1621 by the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The Continental Congress issued the nation’s first official Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1777.
President George Washington issued a national Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789, his first year in office.
Washington declared a national Thanksgiving holiday for the newly ratified Constitution, so people may thank God for “affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness” and for having “been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, particularly the national one now lately instituted.”
The first four presidents combined to issue six Thanksgiving proclamations. However, the tradition ended in 1815. Abraham Lincoln reinstituted it in 1863 in an attempt to heal the divisions caused by the Civil War. Every president since has made an official Thanksgiving proclamation.
In his Thanksgiving proclamation, President Barack Obama asked the nation to “express our gratitude by welcoming others to our celebrations and recognize those who volunteer today to ensure a dinner is possible for those who might have gone without.”
Ho-Ho-Boy there’s A LOT of Holiday Cheer this Season at One Colorado.
One Colorado loves the Holidays and we’re really pulling out all the stops this year. We’re decking our halls, donning our Holiday finery and providing Seasonal warm-and-fuzzies to reward all of you who’ve been extra good this year. We’re sure to bring glee even to the grouchiest Grinch and joy to the crabbiest of scrooges.
This year we’re hosting a Happy Holidays celebratory shindig, a Holiday Open House, mounting momentous music and providing poetry on demand. And what would the Season be without an adorable wintry puppet show for the kids. Santa will of course be here for Seasonal photo ops, and since the guy never turns down a good party he’ll make appearances at our swinging soirees.
We’re also making sure that our friends in need share in the Holiday cheer.
In the spirit of giving, we’re holding a coffee drive for Union Station Homeless Services, a Holiday Card Round Up to brighten the season for our friends in need, as well as a toy collection for the Charles Cherniss Tournament of Toys and the Pasadena Jaycee’s “Operation Santa”.
Here’s the Holiday Hoedown Lowdown:
12/5, 6p – 8p One Colorado’s “Happy Holidays Party” with music from Leftover Cuties
Start the Season off on the right note here at One Colorado. We’re serving up a cheery night of live music from the prohibition-era Jazz band Leftover Cuties. If so inclined, you can swing the night away under the stars. We’re also offering funtastic photo booth folly and sweet treat nibbles with (Dots) mini cupcakes and (cows’) milk.
We’ll also be kicking off the One Colorado Charles Cherniss Tournament of Toys collection drive, which provides gifts to 3,000 disadvantaged children throughout the San Gabriel Valley, distributed by the Pasadena Jaycees’s “Operation Santa”.
While you’re here all hopped up on the cheer, slip Santa a note through Santa’s Mailbox, sponsored by Old Pasadena Management District. We suggest playing up all the good stuff you’ve done this year, even if you have to exaggerate. All notes get a reply; don’t forget your return address!
And since it’s not all about you, please join us for our Holiday Card Round Up and pen some Holiday wishes for our friends at the Union Station Homeless services. Your act of open-heartedness will bring a smile to someone who could really use it. Consider doubling your kindness by also bringing coffee for our Union Station Coffee Drive (see below).
12/10 Holiday Open House + a concert with Dead Winter Carpenters
From 5p – 7p, One Colorado stores & restaurants will host special events and promotions dreamed up
just for this special night.
Our Courtyard and Alleys will also feature loads of festive activities and feel-good moments:
On-the-spot poetics from Jacqueline Suskin’s Poem Store
Handbell Choirs will ring your chimes in Smith Alley
Photo booth posing with friends and family (to bring balance to your seasonal selfies)
Santa strolling the festivities (to bring celebrity to your seasonal selfies)
Free gift wrapping with the Pasadena Jaycees (for purchases over $100)
And a fancy One Colorado tote giveaway (for purchases over $200 while supplies last)
At 7p, join us for a courtyard concert with Dead Winter Carpenters. Let Americana roots-rock band Dead Winter Carpenters further gladden your tidings with their five-part harmonies, ferocious fiddling, thumping upright bass, country ramblings and acoustic guitars with driving drums melding the music.
And in the on-going spirit of giving:
Charles Cherniss Tournament of Toys collection at Patagonia (47 N Fair Oaks)
Coffee Drive for Union Station Homeless Services + Holiday Card Round Up
All funtivities are served up with mini cupcakes and cocoa.
Holiday Open House store and restaurant + general events specifics will be on our website (and a subsequent press release).
12/13, 3p – 7p Pet Day Photos with Santa (a tail wagging good time)
Pose your pooch (kitty, bunny, parrot, hamster or gecko) with Old St. Nick. His lap is your lap (unless your pet is large like a llama; no offense to llamas). Hours and pricing will be on our website.
12/22 “Wacky Winter Adventure” puppet show + screening of “The Mousecracker”
(like Nutcracker but with Mice, and maybe some cheese) presented by Luce Puppet Company.
Puppet shows at 4p and 5p; “The Mousecracker” screening at 6:30p.
Join Pepe the Dog and his pal Snow Girl as they venture to the North Pole in search of the Gingerbread Princess, who rumor has it grants wishes (albeit one per customer). Madcap mayhem ensues as the duo meets some ridiculous penguins, the Abominable Snowman and Snowball King, not to mention all this whilst keeping Snow Girl from melting. This charming and whimsical tale of friendship, loyalty and resourcefulness will melt your heart.
Speaking of Heart – About the Coffee Drive for Union Station Homeless Services:
From 11/31 – 12/11, bring 1 lb. (or more!) of ground, caffeinated coffee to One Colorado’s Management Office (24 East Union) and for your kindness we’ll give you a voucher for a delicious cup of Il Fornaio’s wood-roasted Americano or Italiano
And throughout the Holiday:
Local children & adult choir performances
Santa’s Mailbox
Santa Photo Sessions in Smith Alley
Charles Cherniss Tournament of Toys collection for “Operation Santa” at Patagonia – 47 N. Fair
Oaks (More info – PasadenaJaycees.org.)
All event details are on our website and Facebook event page. And don’t be shy – have a question? Call us!
Giuseppe (that’s Joe in Italian). We’re collecting coffee
Monday – Friday, 9a – 5p and at our special events.
One Colorado is a collection of 17 historic buildings housing a curated mix of nationally acclaimed retailers and designers, unique local merchants, inventive restaurants and a boutique cinema. A full city block located between Colorado, Union, Delacey and Fair Oaks, One Colorado is the retail centerpiece of Old Pasadena and favorite casual gathering place for the greater community, with public events hosted year-round in its central courtyard.
One Colorado – 41 Hugus Alley, Pasadena, CA 91103
OneColorado.com / Facebook – OneColoradoOldPasadena
GENERAL PUBLIC: Please call 626.564.1066 or go to onecolorado.com
MEDIA: Please call McLean Emenegger at 626.564.1066 or mclean@onecolorado.com
During the annual Dinner-in-the-Park on Christmas Day in Pasadena’s Central Park, the Union Station Homeless Services have provided meals to the homeless, low income families and those with no where else to go on the holiday. See all the photos from today’s event.
