A Skid Row Thanksgiving With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Thousands Of Poor Children, Women And Men & Hundreds Of Caring Volunteers

BEING THANKFUL FOR SIMPLE BLESSINGS…EVEN ON SKID ROW…

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Nov 22, 2012, 09:30 ET

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Los Angeles' most impoverished men, women and children will celebrate Thanksgiving Dinner at the Fred Jordan Mission on Skid Row with thousands of caring Angeleno volunteers from all over the Southland on Thursday, November 22, from 10:00am – 2:00pm.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will give his traditional Thanksgiving Prayer for the city and lead thousands of volunteers in serving a traditional Thanksgiving Turkey dinner, with all of the homemade trimmings to more than 2,500 impoverished children, women and men at the Fred Jordan Mission, located at 445 Towne Avenue, on the corner of 5^th and Towne, Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

The Mission will continue their 69- year tradition of preparing and serving more than 1 ton of roast turkey, 80 gallons of gravy, 585 pounds of green beans, 560 pounds of candied yams, 500 pounds of mashed potatoes, hundreds of pounds of traditional cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, 400 pumpkin pies and 220 gallons of fruit punch for this extraordinary feast. In addition, each guest will receive gifts of food, blankets and hygiene kits when they leave the banquet.

The Mission has a new partner in this huge Thanksgiving feast -- Ted Giouzelis, owner of The Lunch Master, located across the street from the Mission, has donated the use of his huge commercial ovens to help roast the turkey..

This annual dinner doesn't draw only homeless, people. It also draws working families who can't afford to cook a Thanksgiving Day dinner of their own. The Mission is expecting a record number of people.

However, in all the excitement of this special Thanksgiving, there is a real emergency here on Skid Row! Donations to the Mission from individual donors have dropped, while at the same time, more struggling families have turned to the Mission for help.

The Mission serves hungry, impoverished families and children every day of the year. The Mission is in urgent need of food, clothing, blankets and baby products to care for the tiniest victims of this national recession - - the children.

The Mission's Thanksgiving and Christmas outreaches for inner city families are legendary, with more than 60,000 impoverished families and children looking to the Mission for their only Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday celebrations. The Mission is asking businesses, churches, groups and individuals of good will to make charitable donations of food, new clothes, new toys, diapers and blankets for cold winter nights. Cash donations are also welcome - - and tax-deductible.

L.A. County leads the U.S. in a recent hunger study, with more than 1.7 million Los Angeles County residents struggling with hunger, more than in any other county in America. One in five children in Los Angeles goes to bed hungry. If viewers or readers are able to help, they can call

PLEASE PHONE: 1-626-915-1981 to donate.

DONATE ONLINE: www.fjm.org

PO BOX 12345, Covina, CA 91722

Major Credit Cards gratefully accepted. Donations are tax-deductible.

The Fred Jordan Missions, open 365 days a year since 1944, feeds hundreds of hungry people and provides assistance to impoverished individuals and families. The Mission is a non-profit, faith-based, educational and relief organization that focuses on education, job training, and self-reliance.

SOURCE Fred Jordan Missions