Moreno Valley Brings Community Together for Thanksgiving

This past Thursday, Moreno Valley invited the community to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Starting at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, community members started to pile into the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center for a full feast. Completely free and open to the public, the Thanksgiving meal included all of the traditional favorites: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans and pie. Over six-hundred gathered together to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal at the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center this year. “The number grows each year; this is the most we have ever had. It was definitely a success,” Julius Murphy, Corps officer from the Salvation Army overseeing the event, said. Each guest was greeted by multiple volunteers at the door and volunteered waiters and waitresses served them throughout the night. “We wanted to treat everyone as if they were at a fancy restaurant,” Murphy said. Fortunately, this year there were over two-hundred volunteers that took time out of their Thanksgiving holiday to help cater to these families in need. “People usually call us or call in because they want to help out at the event,” he said. “But this year, there were about ninety people that dropped by to volunteer to help out. Usually there are only about twenty volunteers that stop by so I was really surprised.” According to Murphy, they served over six-hundred meals on Thursday; two-hundred-and-fifteen of those meals were catered by them to senior centers and to people that were unable to leave their homes to join the event at the Recreation Center. Murphy said, “Our goal was definitely met. We actually ran out of some food items this year. We usually always have leftovers so I’m glad everyone was fed and were able to have a Thanksgiving meal.” In addition to the meal, everyone was able to take a little goodie bag filled with house supplies home with them. He said, “Everyone walked away with donated hygiene and cleaning products, as well.” Salvation Army’s John Marshall, who also helped organize the event and made sure everything was running smoothly, said, “It really went well. There were no issues and everyone was able to eat good food and celebrate the holiday together.”