With the loss of the Santa Cruz Veteran's Hall, Santa Cruz activist Steve Pleich and Friends of Thanksgiving have organized for the second year, a giant Thanksgiving spread at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium called "Santa Cruz Community Thanksgiving."
The free meal will be served from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday. Last year more than 1,000 people were served.
"We will gather not as the homeless or the housed, not as the rich or the poor, not as the old or the young, but rather as friends and neighbors who will come together and give of themselves to turn a time of want and need into a celebration of joy and generosity," says Pleich in the video on the right.
Organizations all over town have picked up the call. Thehas donated its ovens to cook turkeys.
Organizers including Vice Mayor Don Lane, Homeless Services Center Director of Development Mareisa Weil and Pastor Dennis Adams, Director/Founder of the Santa Cruz-based Acts of Love Foundation, are working to raise $5,000 in donations.
“It was so moving to hear diners say that they felt like a welcome guest in the home of a friend and we want that same feeling this year when folks sit down to their holiday meal,” said Pastor Adams.
For more information on Friends of Thanksgiving and how you can contribute, please contact Steve Pleich at (831) 334-8692 or donate on line at www.scshelter.org. Volunteer signup and information is available at friendsofthanksgiving@gmail.com.
