Mission, Mall, Park to Offer Free Meals

Free Thanksgiving meals will be offered at the Orange County Rescue Mission, the food court of Westminster Mall and Bluebird Park in Laguna Beach.

The Rescue Mission expects several thousand people for its meal, which begins at 11 a.m. and includes turkey with all the trimmings. The mission is at 1901 W. Walnut St. in Santa Ana.

Westminster Shelter for the Homeless is sponsoring its fifth annual Thanksgiving dinner at the mall’s food court on the second level next to Sears. About 300 people are expected for dinner, which will be served from noon to 2 p.m. Westminster Mall is at Golden West Street and the San Diego Freeway.

And in Laguna Beach, no one has to go hungry or be alone on the holiday thanks to the annual free potluck feast at Bluebird Park.

“I think we’re the only city that does anything like this,” said Alice Graves, board member of Friendship Shelter, coordinator of the event. “It’s a community celebration of Thanksgiving. City officials, homeless, the elderly, everyone turns out.”

And you don’t even have to bring anything, she said.

“In fact we worry about having too much food,” she said. “You can bring a little something if you’d like, but the outpouring is always so generous. People just come laden.”

Graves said it started because there are a lot of people who have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving.

“They’re not necessarily poor or homeless, they’re alone,” she said.

This is the third time the dinner has been held at Bluebird Park. The feast starts at noon, and those wishing to bring food can do so at 11:30 a.m.