Thanksgiving 2021 Outreach at Metropolis in Santa Monica 

We decided to step up again for 2021 and serve an amazing Thanksgiving meal to our local seniors and those in need on Thanksgiving Day, as we weren’t aware of any other organizations on the Westside doing anything on that day. We were hopeful that we might serve even more than we did in 2020, but weren’t sure if that would happen. In the end we COMPLETELY exceeded all expectations, serving up 800 TOTAL MEALS!

We served up an incredible hot traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. And we also gave out hundreds of expanded hygiene kits, gift cards, underwear, socks, caps, gloves & scarves, and more to all who had need. For all who sent in financial donations, donated food or personal care items, cooked turkeys or brought pies, or volunteered your time on a holiday, we say a very big THANK YOU! 

Metropolis Thanksgiving 2021 Highlights:

• We served a grand total of 800 delicious Thanksgiving meals to the community!

• We estimate over 400 people showed up in person to get a meal and some other gifts.

• We sent deliveries all over the Westside with some of our volunteers - to parks, encampments, the beach, and as far as Inglewood and Western Avenue.

• We had up to 100 volunteers who worked tirelessly all Thanksgiving Day to make sure everything ran super smoothly. They did everything from mixing up stuffing & potatoes, carving turkeys, cutting & packing pies, loading up containers with food, running bags of dinners to the front, welcoming guests, helping us clean, and more.

• A few LAPD officers helped serve up some food and then delivered 50+ meals to those in need in the West LA district.

• We handed out over 300 $10 McDonalds gift cards donated by the amazing Westside Thanksgiving Celebration, plus a handful of Subway gift cards.

• We gave out over 300 expanded hygiene kits, along with underwear & socks, caps, scarves & gloves, makeup kits, and more.

• Volunteers cooked and delivered over 30 turkeys to us, and brought up to 70 pumpkin pies!

• St. Monica Catholic Church once again generously donated food leftover from their Thanksgiving Outreach, which takes place the day before Thanksgiving, so we had a big jump-start on our food prep on Thanksgiving morning.

• We had volunteers scour the area with flyers on Wednesday and Thanksgiving morning so numerous people would know where to get a wonderful hot meal. And the outreach team from Kardia church got the word out to the community that they deliver lunches to in West LA about our meal, and may have even helped some with bus passes to get to us.

• We received numerous generous financial donations which allowed us to get all of the food, personal care items, supplies, and rented kitchen equipment (stoves & hot boxes) that we needed to have a successful event.