Thanksgiving was awesome

[cellboy]

1. I had the best time, in a long time yesterday. Patrick, and his friend Craig and I made it to the Tenderloin Tessies Thanksgiving dinner at the First Unitarian Universalist church on Franklin and Geary.

2. After the into by the staff, and how all will proceed in feeding over 1100 people, doors opened at 1pm and served meals to the homeless, less fortunate, recently unemployed, and seniors struggling to make ends meet.

3. Unlike St Anthony's and Glide, all the people are seated at tables. And served individually. Served first the salad, then the entree of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and all the fixings, and large paper plates. Then after they are served desert. And included is live jazz music from a band on stage!

4. The staffs' idea is to make each and every person feel important. Like they are at home. Not standing in long food lines like the other organizations do. And I think it is an excellent idea. The staff did an excellent job in turnover in seating.

5. So our group, were in charge of serving the punch. It was really fun pouring and asking those if they needed more. Punch, water, or coffee, and talking to many

6. We had name tags on our shirts, so it made them feel comfortable calling us by name.

7. I must say 99% of the people were polite. And 99% would respond with a yes please, thank you, and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. Meaning it. It came from their heart. . Even from the most down and out looking and dressed (and rarely showered) person. They were all so happy and thankful.

8. This is a general comment, but I thought, to myself, when I worked at Nordstrom for the holiday season, there were many shoppers that were nice, but also many that never said thank you, or even bothered to wish anyone happy holidays. And those are the comfortable/wealthy shoppers!

9. I saw a few there, that looked familiar. Some that were not in need, but only wanted to be somewhere for thanksgiving. Some were so destitute looking, but were so happy to share the day with others, and share a dinner, and converse with newly met friends.

10. I had to leave for a few minutes, and go to the restroom and clear up my tearing eyes. It was so heart wrenching to see some in such sad condition. But also so heart wrenching to see them so happy to be here too.

11. Half way though we took a break and also had some dinner. I needed it. Lee, Tom and I worked at the gym that morning. Hard bicep/tricep workout. Big mistake! Carrying the juice pitchers for 3 hrs. My arms were tired! LOL. The food was really good. Unfortunately they ran out of turkey, so we had ham.

12. The event was done by 4 pm. So we then drove to the Lone Star for some R & R and a beer.

13. But lo and behold they were also having a free Thanksgiving dinner for all the patrons!! Since I had not had Turkey yet, I could not resist!!! The dinner (my second) was really really good! Yum!!!!

14. After our wonderful grazing at the Star, we went to 440 to see who was there. The place was pretty busy. And owner Gordy was offering free drinks for 2 hrs as a Thanksgiving thank you. Stuffed, from my 2 dinners, 2 Stella's were enough for me. And although only 6 pm, it felt like 11!

15. Home and in bed by 10 pm. I have to work today. And it's very quiet.

16. I agree with Patrick. We both are so glad we did this, and will do it again! This in a way was also a gift to myself. A gift to me, of making feel good about giving


A bag of socks and a scarf for each person leaving the dinner. They also get small boxes of food (chips and sandwiches) for them to last the next day or two.


Owner Tony Huerta (l) of the Lone Star bringing out the turkey


Lone Star yummies

Comments

[fallenandlost76.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing, this was a wonderful and touching entry. Wonderful that there are people who do something like that. What a great idea and I can understand that you had to go and clean your eyes... I can really undertand that. Sometimes those who don´t have much are the nice and happy about every little bit respect they get, different to many others who have almost everything one need or even don´t need and they don´t know how to day Thank you or please... A lot of respect to you do for doing this! HUGS