Thanksgiving is a special time of the year, even in Los Angeles' Skid Row, where 3,800 homeless live. As most of Americans gather in their suburban homes to give thanks, hundreds of volunteers serve over 10,000 meals to the homeless in the missions and shelters in Los Angeles.
In Skid Row, Thanksgiving celebrations occur throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving Day with hundreds of volunteers coming together to provide for the underserved community. It is a sign of how we give back as a nation. However, I wish it would continue throughout the year. Every year the same trend occurs in Skid Row; individuals volunteer their time to feed the homeless and donations of food come pouring in, soon after, unfortunately, the donations and volunteers slow to a trickle.
The Weingart Center serves over 250,000 meals per year, but no more on Thanksgiving day than any other. While we do offer a special menu for our Thanksgiving celebration, we ensure that three times a day, every day, our participants have a hot meal waiting for them. While large holiday events help bring much-needed attention to the problem of homelessness, consistent, reliable support is what helps individual people start to re-establish a stable life.
The need for sustained support is greater than ever as the homeless population continues to grow. Los Angeles County's poverty rate increased to 16.1% in 2009 according to Census Bureau data. In total more than 1.56 million L.A. County residents lived below the poverty line. These are troubling numbers which indicate that the homeless population will grow in the near future.
All of the service organizations in Skid Row are extremely grateful for the donations and volunteers during this important time of year, however, we would like to remind the public that it is equally important to remember those in need throughout the year. A commitment of such would be transformative to the lives of thousands of homeless.