Volunteers Can Fill a Void on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. For most it’s a time to gather with family and celebrate what the year has brought and what the next year may offer.

But for many, it’s just another day.

For the homeless, it’s a day spent wondering when and where the next meal will come. For the homebound elderly, it can be a depressing maze of memories and loneliness.

“A lot of our seniors are alone. They don’t have either family or close relationships where someone will invite them to dinner,” said Alma Patotzka, project director for the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council Meals to the Homebound. “It just becomes a very depressing day because they remember years back when things were very different.”

To change that, the Van Nuys-based council needs several hundred volunteers to deliver hot turkey dinners to about 650 elderly people from 10 a.m. until noon on Thanksgiving.

The volunteers usually enjoy the effort as much as the elderly, Patotzka said, commenting on last year’s helpers: “They had so much fun and it made them feel so good that they shared their day with someone.”

The council is one of many nonprofit organizations throughout the San Fernando Valley trying to make this Thanksgiving more memorable for those who might not have many reasons to give thanks. They need volunteers and donations to make it work.

Getting Involved today and next Tuesday will be devoted to listing groups asking for holiday help. For more information on these or other holiday volunteer opportunities, please call the Volunteer Center of San Fernando at (818) 908-5066.

Abused and abandoned children will have an early Thanksgiving with Children Are Our Future on Nov. 18. The Canoga Park-based group runs nine residential homes for children ages 5 to 18 in state custody. Volunteers are needed from 4 to 10 p.m. to set up, cook, serve and clean.

The dinner party is for the 54 children and their social workers. “It gets us together as an agency and it gets us together as a family,” said recreational therapist Meg Sciscento. “This is a time for them to really reflect on the good in their lives. It gives them an opportunity for them to feel like they’re in a family.”

The dinner is being held early to give children the opportunity to spend the holiday with relatives. Children without families will spend the holiday with house parents at their facilities.

Positive Directions, a Glendale-based counseling service, plans a Thanksgiving support meeting for clients, many of whom are adults with no family.

“What it is is support for people who need community, who need family during the holidays,” said Deborah McColl, program coordinator.

At 2:30 p.m. the agency will hold a potluck dinner and needs volunteers to bring flowers, food--especially ham and turkeys--and to set up and clean.

Women’s Care Cottage in Van Nuys won’t be open Thanksgiving day but will be handing out baskets of food to homeless clients before the holiday. The cottage needs donations of food that needs no cooking or opening utensils, said Pam Haymond, case manager at the day center for homeless women and children. The cottage’s residential facility in North Hollywood, which houses 15 women and children, also needs donations for baskets and for meals to be served to residents.

The Pacoima-based Home Visitation Center, which serves low-income families and individuals in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita, needs volunteers Nov. 24 to sort donations, fill and deliver holiday baskets and to complete other tasks. The center also needs donations of food or money, said Carlos A. Reyes, executive director.

Canoga Care Center will entertain its elderly residents Thanksgiving morning and needs volunteers to help and visit the 50-year-old to 100-year-old clients, said Maribel Martinez, activity director.

“Some of them are so depressed because they feel no one cares for them,” Martinez said. “When a volunteer comes and sits down next to them and talks to them they feel good about themselves.”

Volunteers can also adopt a resident for the holidays, Martinez said, adding that many residents have no relatives.

Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.