Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. (a.k.a. Snoop Dogg) (center) and his wife Shante serve turkey and dressing to sixth district residents at Monday’s “Serving with a Thankful Heart” gathering sponsored by Councilman Dee Andrews.
BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer
At a time when the nation’s economic downturn is forcing many people to get by with less, more than 700 people gathered on Monday to celebrate the fact that we all still have many blessings. One of those blessings was the early Thanksgiving banquet provided free of charge at the Ernest McBride Park community center.
The event— called Serving With a Thankful Heart— was organized by Long Beach 6th District Councilman Dee Andrews and his staff. The food was provided by two of Long Beach’s premier hotels.
“The Long Beach Hilton and Hyatt cooked a five-star meal for a first-class community,” Andrews said. “And to top it all off, Cold Stone Creamery provided dessert served by Long Beach’s own number-one hip hop artist— Snoop Dogg.”
Andrews noted that for many years, the 6th District Council office had provided free turkeys to needy residents in Central Long Beach, but this year he wanted to do something different. “We would give free turkeys to a lot of the homeless folks, but they didn’t have any way to cook them,” he explained. “Last year I even had a homeless man offer to sell me the turkey we had given to him.” The councilman said he wanted to feed as many people as possible and also do something that would give residents a sense of community.
The banquet took place in two phases. Lunch was served from 11:30 am to 2 pm, and dinner was served from 4:30 pm to 7 p.m. Snoop Dogg attended the luncheon.
“We came together like a big family for Thanksgiving,” Andrews said. “We prayed together before the meal and sat down together. I firmly believe that a community that prays together will stay together.”
Annie Greenfeld-Wesner, president of the Wrigley Association attended the dinner and said she loved every minute of it. “It was one of the most fabulous events that I have ever been at,” she said. “The food was delicious, and the service was impeccable.” She explained that volunteers treated everyone like royalty. “This is so important for the 6th District,” she added. “It brought people together and provided food to low-income families. It’s too bad that most of the news media does not cover the positive events that happen in this district.”
Greenfeld-Wesner praised Andrews for his efforts to help the people of Central Long Beach. “He is by far the best council person we have ever had in this district,” she said. “He’s right here where the people are, listening to them and working hard to meet their needs.”
Andrews said he was pleased to see young children helping to serve the meals. “Some of the parents brought their kids here to show them that it’s important to help people who are less fortunate,” he said. “Those kids will never forget what they did today, because we did what the Good Book says to do.”
“We had at least 100 volunteers,” said Kimberly Dodson, one of Andrews’ staff. “People from all over the city came to help out. It was awesome.”
“It’s important to give back to the community,” said Jeff Pace, general manager of the Hyatt hotel in downtown Long Beach. In addition to helping to organize his hotel’s participation in the event, Pace worked on the food line, serving turkey. “While the Hyatt and the Hilton are normally competitors, today we were on the same team,” he said.
Pace’s wife Marti was also a volunteer. “People were smiling and friendly and thankful and it was a blessing to be here,” she said.
Another volunteer, Karen Faulkner, human resources director for the Hyatt, said she was thankful for the opportunity to serve the people of the 6th District. “It was great to meet so many wonderful people and to be able to do something nice for them,” she said.
Stephen Goodling, president of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, also volunteered to serve food during the event. “It was fun to give and fun to receive,” he said. “I loved seeing the smiles on so many faces. Everyone had a great time. I think it is important for everyone to give to each other.”
“I was blessed to be here,” said Lynn Cobb, 6th District resident. “I hope they have this every year.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this day,” added Hilda Forde, also a 6th District resident. “I volunteered and worked hard for most of it, but then I got to sit down, relax and eat a wonderful meal. We have a lot to be thankful for.”
“We need to have more events like this,” said Shirley Spencer, also of the 6th District. “It brought all races of people together and helped us to get to know each other.”
Andrews praised the staff and management of the two hotels and all the volunteers who helped make the event a success. “It’s amazing how the business community came together to help people in my community,” he said. He added that he was also thankful for volunteers from every race, every age, every walk of life and every part of Long Beach came to serve. “I wish we could do this every day, but we can’t,” Andrews said. “But at least this once we connected people to each other and fed a whole lot of hungry mouths.”
Dee Andrews, Shante Broadus and Snoop Dogg
