A full plate -- for most

Thousands of people -- needy families, single mothers with children, the recently unemployed -- converged on free Thanksgiving Day meals throughout Southern California on Thursday to feast and forget their troubles, at least while the food lasted.

The lucky ones arrived early at charitable holiday banquets, where volunteers began ladling gravy and slicing pies before lunchtime. About 2,500 lined up at downtown L.A.’s Fred Jordan Mission for a 10 a.m. sit-down meal and a gift bag filled with groceries, soap, shampoo and toothpaste.

Gospel music blared from speakers along East 5th Street as servers shuffled between rows of folding tables decorated with blue and green balloons.

But the festive mood fizzled when the food ran out before 2 p.m. About 500 people were turned away hungry and told to come back Friday, said mission spokeswoman Suzanna Choi.

“We serve food every day, but we really need food donations and donations so that we can buy food,” she said of the mounting demands on the charity. “We’ve got record numbers of people on the streets due to foreclosures and the economic crisis.”

Peter Jordan, whose family has run the event for years, said they had prepared to feed 2,000 -- as much as they could afford because the mission’s usual supporters have trimmed donations in the economic downturn.

The pressure confronting the mission Thursday reflected the stress of many charities throughout the country -- they’re struggling with dwindling donations and high demand for food, clothing and other necessities.

Ingrid Amaya, 31, who went to the Jordan mission with her five children, the youngest just a year old, was among those who arrived early enough to partake in the feast. The South Los Angeles resident makes her living cleaning houses but lost several jobs recently because employers had to trim expenses.

Amaya said she felt bad that she couldn’t buy her own turkey and fixings this holiday, but was pleased her children got a nourishing meal.

“It’s good. They give you a lot,” she said, taking a bite of a drumstick.

As is the tradition at many charitable dinners, celebrities and community leaders helped dish up the meals. Clippers center Marcus Camby joined Volunteers of America of Greater Los Angeles at the group’s Wall Street center to serve dinner to 200.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa danced as he passed trays among the tables outside the Jordan mission, and City Councilman Richard Alarcon helped serve hungry families at the San Fernando Elks Lodge.

At perhaps the biggest dinner in the region, more than 12,000 people showed up at the Honda Center in Anaheim for the free buffet put on by La Casa Garcia restaurant and the nonprofit We Give Thanks Inc., spokesman Ivan Orejel said.

“Some people come just to eat, but some come and stay for the entertainment,” said Orejel, shouting over the blaring Latin music and various performances around the sports arena.

About 250 displaced from the Oakridge Mobile Home Park devastated by the Sayre fire in Sylmar were treated to a holiday feast prepared by Polytechnic High students, who cooked 45 turkeys and all the trimmings.

Some who could afford their own meal took time to give thanks in church.

At the San Gabriel Mission, worshipers attended a Thanksgiving morning Mass celebrated in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. In a special ceremony, parishioners carried the bread they would break at dinner to the altar for a holiday blessing.

At one Hollywood dinner, chicken, tortillas, rice and beans from El Pollo Loco filled up plates. Volunteers with the Food on Foot organization, which aims to draw the homeless into a work-for-food program, also handed out backpacks and bus tokens.

The event, held at the Gay & Lesbian Center, attracted about 300 people who waited up to two hours to be served.

“Chicken, turkey -- whatever. It’s all meat,” said Ted White, 42, who rode the bus from North Hollywood. A former truck driver, White said he’s been out of work since injuring his back eight years ago. This was the third year in a row that he had come to the dinner, adding that it’s a chance to see friends and acquaintances.

“It’s like a family here,” he said.

Yolanda Gatica, 41, said she recently lost her job sewing clothes at a downtown garment factory.

“I feel good because we’re going to eat,” said the mother with three children in tow, who shares an apartment with her sister and her two young children.

Food on Foot has seen a 22% increase in the number of homeless at its Sunday meals, a reflection of the difficult economic times that are forcing even white-collar workers into food lines or the ranks of homeless, said founder Jay Goldinger.

“You can always tell the freshly homeless,” said Goldinger, a mortgage firm consultant.

“Look at their shoes, look at their clothes, the way they put their head down when you look at them.”

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carol.williams@latimes.com

robert.lopez@latimes.com