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Community Corner

The Friendship Shelter Will Once Again Be Talking Turkey

Laguna Beach takes pride in feeding the community at the annual Thanksgiving feast.

Harkening to the days of colonial times, the is once again setting up a dinner and gathering for the community to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day. For over 20 years, the Shelter has offered a buffet-style feast where they serve and share food donated by the community to more than 300 living around the Laguna.

Like the past three years, the festivities will be held in the starting at noon. About 600 to 700 meals will be served to families and local residents.

They'll begin setting up Wednesday, with people assigned to unfold and place all the tables and chairs. Others are assigned with tasks on the holiday, such as carving turkey at the buffet table. 

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Each year, coordinator Mary LaRusso—known as the Turkey Lady—takes part in the feast. She also has the event's most important job: rounding up 25 turkeys to serve the crowd. LaRusso herself roasts eight whole turkeys, while the rest are donated from families and staff members.

"Everybody loves it, and you know it may have started out as a homeless outreach, but it has become much more than that," LaRusso says. "People like older couples come, whose families are out of town, and it's a nice place to be with a lot of people."

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Dawn Price, Executive Director of the Friendship Shelter, agrees.

"The traditional Thanksgiving story is [when] people who shared a geographical area and came from very different backgrounds shared a meal together. I think that’s exactly what we do in the Laguna Beach Community Thanksgiving every year."

For LaRusso, "the most beautiful thing is that it's not about the haves on one side feeding the have-nots on the other. Everybody comes [together] and almost everybody brings something and everybody shares [with one another]."

Anyone interested in volunteering should get in touch with Taylor Mathieson at 949-494-6928. Those interested in donating turkey can contact Mary LaRusso at 949-228-1954.

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