Murrieta Mesa students serve Thanksgiving dinners to needy residents

Single mothers, families who have fallen on hard times and senior citizens were among the hundreds of needy

The event was the brainchild of the high school’s Interact Club (an offshoot of the Murrieta Rotary Club), which hosted  the meal along with the campus’s culinary arts club students.

Michael Stowe, a mathematics teacher at the high school and the Interact Club adviser, said, “I talked to the kids about picking a project, and this is what they came up with.”

Elsinore High School student Maggie Santos was one of the many guests being served a piping hot plate piled high with turkey and all the fixings. She came with her family, including her two children, 1-year-old Samantha and 2-year-old Sebastian.

“It will be hard for us this year,” Santos said. “It’s hard to say if we will have Thanksgiving, but this will help.”

Murrieta resident Seife Abate and his wife Thsehai have two children in college. Abate was laid off in February, and they have been living off his unemployment. He praised the students and the community for reaching out in such a way.

“Our politicians just keep fighting about health care,” Abate said. “But here you have young school-aged kids with no party alliance coming together to serve the community.”

Sharyn Williams, a Murrieta resident raising five children on her own, including 6-year-old triplets, came with a friend who brought her 8-year-old twin boys. The two single mothers attend church together and heard about Saturday’s meal through a local food bank they frequent.

“We don’t know if we are going to have a turkey this year,” Williams said. “We are hoping we will have Thanksgiving with friends, but this (meal) today was a for sure thing.”

Five hundred meal tickets were given out for the event. The Salvation Army, Calvary Chapel of Murrieta, Project T.O.U.C.H., St. Martha’s and other local food banks and senior centers were instrumental in making sure the tickets were distributed to those who could benefit from a hot meal.

One Sushi of Murrieta donated all the mashed potatoes, gravy and yams; and the United Student Body held a food drive that brought in over 1,800 canned goods. Eighty turkeys were donated by the students, staff and community members, half of which were forwarded to local food banks.

Event organizers spent many hours preparing the feast.

Principal Mary Walters said she arrived at the school at 5 a.m. to help cook the 48 turkeys necessary for the event. The kitchen was full of culinary students and district food services employees–even marines from Camp Pendleton came to help cook.

U.S. Marines Captain William Frazier said he encouraged nine of his fellow Marines to come and help out after hearing about the event from his son Jamal, a freshman at Murrieta Mesa, who came out to help and earn some community service hours.

Kohl’s Department Store sent volunteers to help decorate and pass out beverages; and Lorenzo Perez, a senior at Creekside High School in Murrieta, organized the serving staff.

“I had a woman come up and tell me how much of a difference we are making by doing this; that made me feel really good to be here,” Perez said.

PTSA President Valerie Greer said she was overwhelmed with the success of the event.

“The families have been grateful, and it is so nice to meet people in the community I haven’t met before. This is my goal, to serve, to give back,” Greer said.

Maggie Avants is the education editor for SWRNN. E-mail her at mavants.swrnn@gmail.com. Follow SWRNNedu on Twitter!

Tags: interact club, Maggie Avants, murrieta mesa high school, SWRNN, thanksgiving

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Education, Local News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.