Union Station Homeless Service Holds First of Two ‘Dinner in the Park’ Events

Despite a chilly, steady rain, Union Station Homeless Services once again held their annual “Dinner in the Park” Tuesday,  with the first of two scheduled events.

Tuesday’s event at their Raymond Avenue headquarters was a walkup, or drive-up “all the fixins’” food giveaway. Families who were able to cook at home were provided with everything needed for meals from four to twelve people, from turkey,  to mashed potatoes, gravy, canned corn and green beans  to mac and cheese, and rolls and butter. 

Actress Julie Bowen, known for her role in the ABC-TV series, “Modern Family,” was also on hand to hand out pies, as part of her long time work with event sponsor Feeding America.

As Union Station CEO Anne Miskey noted Tuesday, “I think what is wonderful about this event is that we get food donations from all over the community.”” 

One of the largest sponsors this year, she said, was SoCal Gas. 

“It was through their sponsorship dollars as well as donations from other organizations, both cash donations and food donations, that enabled us to do this. “

Many Pasadenans will recall that some years ago, the Union Station  “Dinner in the Park,” event was literally held in Central Park on Thanksgiving Day, but the world has changed much since then, Miskey noted.

“That was a wonderful event,” she recalled, “especially when it was a community potluck and everybody would bring food and share food together. But, eventually the health department shared with us that wasn’t the safest way to go. So we ended up preparing all the meals and then doing the dinner in the park.” 

And when it rained one of those years, she said, they moved the dinner indoors to their headquarters.

“We  moved here,” she said, “and we realized that this was sort of more of a true look at what people experience, what homelessness about. I mean, today we’re in the rain and it’s chilly, and  people who are living on our streets, this is what they live with. So it just turned out that instead of doing a sort of dinner in the park, we now do dinner in the parking lot!

“But it’s with the same intent, which is really to provide a warm, healthy, and joyous Thanksgiving meal for people who are struggling,” she said. 

Union Station will hold its Thanksgiving Day event on Wednesday, November 22, its first since the onset of the COVID pandemic, with a sit down dinner in the parking lot of their headquarters at 421 South Raymond Avenue.

More information about the Union Station “Dinner in the Park” event is available at www.unionstation.org.