‘We Share’ Dinner Has Guest List of Thousands

Encino real estate broker Don Kruska believes it was divine inspiration that started the We Share dinner.

“Every Christmas, I used to turn the desks around in my office and invite the clients in and feed them crab and lobster,” he remembered. “One day the thought came to me, ‘Why don’t you feed some poor people? These people can afford to feed themselves.’ That was the beginning.”

Kruska and co-organizer Dick Yeakel ended up with an event that exceeded their wildest dreams. At this year’s We Share dinner Sunday in San Fernando, there will be more people on hand than could sit comfortably in someone’s dining room--or in an entire housing tract of dining rooms, for that matter.

“Last year we gave out 3,500 tickets, and 3,000 people showed up,” said Yeakel, “but this year, we’re thinking of giving out about 3,000 tickets, because we’re a little short of money.”

Among Christmastime charity events, the We Share dinner is notable not only for its size--it is by far the largest free holiday get-together in the San Fernando Valley--but also for its lack of affiliation. While similar efforts are run by professional charities or churches, We Share Inc. is home-grown. It has evolved considerably over the years.

First Held in 1979

The first dinner was held in 1979 in Encino, a community not noted for its needy population. Kruska said he wondered afterward if some of the senior citizens eating the free spread didn’t have more money than the people who paid for it.

He consulted Yeakel, a Chatsworth insurance agent and real estate investor, and one of Kruska’s friends. Yeakel wanted to join the effort. The pair and a third man, David Sawaya of Encino, who has since left the venture, skipped the 1980 holiday season and planned for 1981.

“We did a lot of research to see where we could tie into the needy and where we could find facilities to put on a big meal,” Yeakel, 43, recalled. “Finding facilities was the biggest problem. There aren’t that many places where you can feed the number of people we had in mind.”

Cafeteria Found Feasible

The men discovered that they could lease the cafeteria at San Fernando Junior High School--located in one of the Valley’s poorest areas--for a reasonable price. They enlisted nearby Santa Rosa Community Center, which runs a variety of programs offering child care and assistance programs, to help identify and invite needy persons.

Using their own money and donations from friends, and with the help of up to 70 volunteers who cook, serve food and clean up afterward, the men have put on a We Share dinner each year since 1981.

Looking forward to Sunday, Kruska said, “I like to have it close to Christmas to give a little joy to people who ordinarily wouldn’t have it. December can be a depressing time if you don’t have much.”

Carmen Ambriz is the sort of person Kruska and Yeakel want to help. She attended the We Share dinner in 1984 but missed it last year, when she was living in a car in Hollywood. She explained that she had gone to Hollywood to be near her sister afterAmbriz’s boyfriend, the father of her three small children, lost his job. The boyfriend has since deserted her, the 20-year-old woman said.

Ambriz has no plans for her future. She appears resigned and defeated. She said she would like to take vocational classes--her education ended in Tijuana in junior high school--but cannot afford a baby sitter. Ambriz and her children, ages 21 months, 3 and 4, live on welfare of $390 a month and food stamps. She pays $250 a month for her share of the rent on a tiny, ramshackle three-room apartment in San Fernando.

“There are lots of things I can’t buy,” she said in halting English. “Clothes, a bed, furniture.”

Modest Menu

Asked if her children ever go hungry, she answered no, then added, “But, like today, I just gave them beans and rice.”

Talking of Sunday’s We Share dinner, Rosa Mejia of Pacoima, Carmen Ambriz’s sister, said, ‘We’ll all go. My mom, Carmen, her kids and my family.”

With only one child and a husband who works as an upholsterer, Mejia, 23, is better off financially than her sister. Still, she said, “Sometimes we don’t have the money on time for the rent. Sometimes we have to pay the bills late. For shopping, you always find me in the places where it’s less expensive.”

Mejia said she does not know who puts on the yearly dinner, only that it is “someone who wants to make people happy.” The importance of the event, she said, is not so much that it offers a free meal.

“It’s good food, but it’s fun, too. They have Santa for the kids, and they gave them balloons.”

Yeakel and Kruska estimated that 60% of those who attend are children. They said their Santa is Spanish-speaking, and if there is money in their budget, they add a magician or musical act. Entertainment takes place in the school’s auditorium. The dinner itself is served in shifts, with about 300 people seated at a time. The first seating is about 10 a.m. and the final one about 4 p.m.

Rare Outing for Many

Belinda Marquez, project director of Santa Rosa Community Center, and Kathy Tovar, group worker, distribute tickets for the We Share dinner. Marquez, 30, called the event a rare outing for most of those who attend.

“For a lot of us, it’s no big deal to go out to dinner,” she said. “But for some of these people, it’s unheard of. If you’ve got kids and hardly any money, you just don’t go out. Nobody ever serves you.”

Tovar, 35, said that some of the poorest people are reluctant to accept a free meal.

“There’s a lot of pride with many of them. They come into the center and I can see it’s killing them to ask for help, even if they haven’t had food for three days. With the dinner, sometimes I word it differently. Instead of saying it’s for the needy, I say, ‘It’s a community event, and you should come so you can be with your family and friends.’ ”

Organizers of the dinner said their main problem is raising money, not finding volunteers to staff it.

“We have a nucleus of about 12 people who help us throughout the year, including my wife, Kathy, and my daughter, Christina, and Don’s wife, Lois,” Yeakel said. “And a lot of people who volunteered last year will come back to help on the day itself. It sounds like a terrible way to spend a day--serving dinners to people you don’t know. But when it’s over, we walk out of there floating because you really feel you’ve done something for people.”

Their wallets are lighter afterward, also.

“We do the whole thing for about $4,000 or $5,000,” Yeakel said, “and we raise funds however we can. In the early years, it was costing Don and me about $1,000 each. We’ve managed to get better at fund-raising, but it still costs us money. All the charitable organizations are tapping the same sources, so it’s tough.”

A nonprofit corporation, We Share holds occasional raffles in addition to accepting funds outright. (Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 7745, Mission Hills 91346.)

Yeakel said the dinner has been trouble-free.

“We coordinate with the police and have volunteer security, but there’s never been a problem,” he said. “Believe me, you go there and it doesn’t look like the barrio. People are in their Sunday best, and the kids are very well-behaved.”

Despite the clean record, however, liability insurance is a big expense. Organizers said this year’s policy cost $875. Leasing the school facilities runs $110. The actual meal, Kruska figured, is prepared and served for under $1.50 a person.

Individual Turkeys Bought

“I’ve been out buying the turkeys, and I get them one at a time from supermarkets,” he said. “It turns out that’s the cheapest way, but it’s a lot of shopping because I need about three-quarters of a ton. Last year I was able to get 25-pound toms, but this year they’re averaging about 17 pounds. We’ll end up with about 85 birds, I guess.”

The turkeys are cut up and cooked the day before the dinner. Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino donates its kitchen. The rest of the meal is prepared at San Fernando Junior High on the day of the event, starting at 6 a.m.

The menu this year is the same as in 1985. Antonia Lopez of San Fernando was there, and remembered it clearly.

“It was very nice with the food,” the 62-year-old woman said. She ticked off items on her finger tips. “There was pavo --the turkey, and papas --potatoes, and green beans and pastel --the dessert.”

Will she be going this year?

“Oh, yes,” Lopez said. “I’ll go with many friends. I’m calling everyone.”