The BIG Thanksgiving STUFFING Event: Over 1,500 Volunteers from Every Walk of Life Unite from Across Southern California to Work Together to Help Thousands This Holiday Season at Big Sunday Headquarters on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, 9 AM-12 PM

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Sunday, one of the USA's foremost organizations connecting people through helping and opportunities to volunteer, now celebrating its 20^th anniversary year, will host its 7th Annual BIG SUNDAY Thanksgiving Stuffing Event, on Wednesday, November 21st from 9 AM – 12 Noon PT at the Big Sunday headquarters at 6111 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038.  On the day before Thanksgiving, more than 1,500 volunteers of all ages, races, religions, backgrounds and ethnicities will have fun working together sorting food, and stuffing and handing out the bags of food to kick off the holiday season.  This year, Big Sunday plans to give away over 3,000 bags of Thanksgiving food to thousands of families, including victims of domestic violence, runaway teens, seniors, veterans, working poor families, homeless people, ailing people and many others.  In classic Big Sunday fashion, the crowd will include well-known people and industry leaders, while at the same time many of the helpers will also be receiving assistance underscoring Big Sunday's belief that the world isn't divided into the "haves" and the "have nots".  Rather, the world is full of the "haves" and the "have mores" – everyone, regardless of personal circumstance, has some way in which they can help someone else.  Everyone participating will also join together for a big community breakfast hosted by Big Sunday.

The response to this year's event has been remarkable.  "Big Sunday has no religious or political agenda. But it's so reassuring that during these divided and divisive times more people than ever – from all walks of life and all political bents – come to us looking to help, and to celebrate what we all share. After all, we're all in it together," said David Levinson, Big Sunday's founder and executive director, and author of Everyone Helps, Everyone Wins, How Absolutely Anyone Can Pitch In. Help Out. and Give Back. to Make the World a Better Place.  Considered an expert in the field of volunteerism, Levinson is consulted widely by cities, nonprofits, corporations and other volunteer organizations.  All kinds of groups - schools, religious institutions, businesses, non-profits, individuals and families from across Southern California are already collecting and dropping off hundreds of pounds of food and hundreds of dollars to put toward food in preparation for the event. 

Big Sunday (www.bigsunday.org) has been connecting people with opportunities to help and volunteer to do good works together since 1999.  Recognized nationally, Big Sunday is one of the USA's premiere resources for volunteering all year long.  The organization functions as an efficient clearing-house of volunteerism and community engagement, organizing and facilitating a host of ways for people of every background to volunteer, and making it easy for diverse people to participate in good works together to support causes that they care about year-round.  Big Sunday works as a resource that unites, hosts, and is connected with hundreds of individuals, families and communities.  The USA's biggest community service festival – A Month of Big Sundays, (MOBS) is the signature event of the organization.  MOBS (formerly Big Sunday Weekend), which was started in Los Angeles and has completed projects in nearly a dozen states engages thousands of volunteers from every walk of life working together to make our communities cleaner, prettier, healthier, safer, and friendlier all month long.  Big Sunday's mission is to connect people through helping.  Founded in Los Angeles 20 years ago by Levinson with just 300 volunteers, the organization has now completed in excess of 1 million volunteer man-hours, and over 6,000 volunteer projects worth several million dollars in donated in-kind goods and services, and skilled and unskilled labor costs.  Big Sunday is driven by the belief that anyone, regardless of how rich or poor, how old or young, your race, religion, gender or ethnicity, can help someone else. 

Big Sunday's initiatives include the Annual Big Sunday Holiday Volunteering and Giving Opportunities List, a regional clearing house offering more than 400 holiday giving and helping opportunities during the Holiday Season posted by the organization and used as a resource by people everywhere who want to help; the Big Sunday Emergency Fund, a special fund for non-profits and schools who have immediate needs for themselves or their clients in crisis;  We're All In The Same Boat Project, where Big Sunday invites a diverse group of people of all ages from all walks of life for a 2-hour harbor cruise, some of whom have never been on a boat before, and all participants are asked to meet at least one new person and just enjoy each other's company; The End of the Month Club to address hunger;  TGIW! (Thank God it's Work!)  - a program to help people who are looking for work – but are having a difficult time finding it – get temporary paid work at Big Sunday or at one of the organization's large network of nonprofit partners (Big Sunday pays the employee, whether the temporary work is at Big Sunday or another nonprofit); Monthly on Melrose to benefit non-profit partners; theBIGlist, an online "non-profit matchmaking microsite" where Big Sunday's nonprofit partners post their "wish lists" and are matched with those who wish to help; a year-round; the Really Big Community Calendar with over 1,200 volunteering and helping opportunities for all kinds of interests, talents, passions, and ages;  the PROBOlist, a list of pro bono skilled services offered to, and requested by, non-profits;TM@10, a weekly community service project hosted in the Big Sunday offices every Thursday morning, when people gather to meet new people, and work together while helping someone else; Corporate Days of Service, offering memorable, meaningful and made-to-order community service events for businesses large and small; SPECIAL² , a unique service giving people marking a special occasion (a wedding, bar mitzvah, birthday, etc.) opportunities to combine celebrating with giving back; The Lemonade Brigade, an easy way to join the Big Sunday family, anywhere and anytime; and Big Sunday's Youth In Action, the organization's popular toolkit for civic-minded kids and their families.

Big Sunday was named by the Points of Light Foundation as one of "10 national nonprofits that are making a tremendous impact on our country's most critical challenges by mobilizing volunteers…These organizations also demonstrate a collaborative spirit through partnerships with other organizations to help strengthen communities across the nation."

The BIG Thanksgiving Stuffing Event is a great way to kick-off the Holiday Season!  Tremendous opportunities available for wonderful visuals and interviews with a cross section of people discussing how and why they want to help others in the community this Holiday Season.

7th Annual Thanksgiving Stuffing Event's Generous Sponsors:

CBS

Food Forward

Ralphs/Food4Less

Thrive Market

Allan & Nicole Mutchnik,

The Rosenthal Family Foundation

Marilyn & John Wells

Billy Ray

Groundwork

Sarah Hennelly

Albert Litewka

Sarah Timberman & Ed Redlich

Wilshire Rotary Club

Contact: Rachel Schwartz/PR AdvantEDGE, Inc.
310.990.2764; [email protected]

SOURCE Big Sunday

Related Links

http://www.bigsunday.org