thanksgiving: black friday

Friday after Thanksgiving, my dad and I worked the lunch shift at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles (near Little Tokyo, Toy District). We served about about 800 people: 200 some men at 11 o'clock, 200 some women and children at 12 o'clock, and 440 men at 2 o'clock. As my dad described it, it was "intense," but he said he had a good time. (It was his first time doing a soup kitchen.) He scooped rice, and I switched between serving chicken tenders at one lunch, serving vegetables at another lunch, and distributing plates of food to the guests. After each lunch, we cleaned the tables. The menu: three chicken tenders, rice, peas and carrots, and salad.

I've volunteered at a number of homeless shelters, but it was my first time serving with Union Rescue Mission (URM). I decided on URM because I didn't have a lot of time to research Los Angeles shelters, so I picked the most well-known. I shouldn't have been surprised, then, that celebrities (or former celebrities) like coming to URM, too. As we're waiting for the guests to come, a volunteer named Cruz tells me that he helped out the day before on Thanksgiving, and "the blonde woman from MASH" distributed plates to the guests. On a previous occasion, the twin sisters of the show, "Sister, Sister" came. As he's telling me these stories, I hear a staff member yell out, "Yo, the guy from Korn is coming today..."

The first lunch flew by and I barely had time to look up to say "hello" to the guests as I painstakingly tried to quickly pick three good sized chicken tenders (and not broken off pieces) to put on the plate. After the second lunch, the other volunteer servers (mostly dressed in black) chatted me and my dad up and introduced themselves. We talked about whether it was each other's first times. It was their first time, my tenth or so time. I asked them about what made them decide to serve, and one guy with dreads and a beard named Reggie said, "I've been donating money here for some time, but decided to meet the people here and just get a group going..." I wasn't sure if they were a church group or not. I finally asked them, "Hey, I heard someone from Korn from is here...?" and Reggie said, "Yeah, that's me." Excitedly I said, "My friend is a huge fan, and I've heard so much about your band through him!" Then, all of a sudden, I felt embarrassed, starstruck, now that it was out there that I knew he was someone famous. I worried that I insulted him by telling him that I didn't know his music, then worried that maybe he didn't want to feel like a celebrity, and there I was, pointing it out.

Nonetheless, his friends and father-in-law were very friendly and urged me and my dad to take a tour of the facilities with them, led by one of URM's staff members, Rosie. I am so impressed with URM - it was established in 1891 and has done a lot of great work since then. The facility has separate quarters for men and women, dental and medical clinics, a gym made of old tires, weight room, chapel, and spaces for people to just come in from off the streets. Their various programs are also noteworthy. Also, every time they get a donation of $30,000 or more, they ring a big bell in their office and just thank God for his provision and graciousness of the donor. Finally, Rosie saved the best for last - the rooftop of the building where the CEO holds a barbeque for all the staff and guests every First Friday of the month. Here are some pics for you to chew on as the first Friday of this month approaches...






Happy Thanksgiving.