Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hundreds brave chilly weather for Thanksgiving dinner

Not old enough to volunteer, 6-year-old boy offers blankets to homeless

Las Vegas Rescue Mission Thanksgiving

Cydney Cappello

Volunteers load plates with food at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission annual Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday.

Las Vegas Rescue Mission Thanksgiving

Volunteers load plates with food at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission annual Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday. Launch slideshow »

Despite the cold and rain, a line began to form a half hour before the Las Vegas Rescue Mission opened Wednesday afternoon with people patiently waiting in shifts for hot turkey and mashed potatoes inside.

One person yelled out “197 people in 40 minutes” soon after volunteers began serving Thanksgiving dinner at the rescue mission at 480 W. Bonanza Road. In the end, 1,358 people had dinner at the soup kitchen, which is up from 1,200 last year.

The kitchen serves between 700 to 1,000 people daily during a 5 p.m. meal. That's up from 500 to 800 last year. Christal Krehnovi, the rescue mission's development and relationship manager, said the soup kitchen strives to accommodate everyone -- despite its small facility.

“Our dining facility right now only has a capability of about 300, so we actually have to feed in shifts,” Krehnovi said.

The rescue mission is preparing to break ground on a new facility that will be finished during the middle of next year, she said.

Ted Carlson said he had just come in off the streets looking for something to eat.

“They’re rushing people in, not rushing people out,” he said. “Usually I spend (Thanksgiving) with my family, but the last couple of years I’ve been on my own so it’s different, but it’s alright after you’ve been on the streets for a while -- you kind of get used to it."

Carlson, who is an Arizona native, said that since he’s move to Las Vegas he’s been working different jobs through temp agencies. Earlier in the day he visited St. Vincent Lied Dining Facility for a meal there.

“We try to time our big dinners like this around other agencies, like Salvation Army is doing theirs tomorrow, then Catholic Charities is the day after, so they have a week of food spread out,” Krehnovi said.

As guests left the soup kitchen, they were given hats, gloves, scarves and blankets provided by different agencies.

“Generous people ... knit and crochet hats and scarves throughout the year and they have a love for it and a love for people who are homeless and they do it all year and drop the items off to us,” United Methodist Social Ministries executive director Loyce Smith said.

Smith said the organization handed out more than 1,000 hats and scarves for Wednesday’s dinner. He said volunteers will give them out again today at Catholic Charities.

“We want to be able to give everything away and you never know how many to anticipate, but we just bring it all and give it and start all over the next day,” she said.

Volunteers were on hand passing out gloves and blankets, too, all thanks to a 6-year-old boy.

When Blaze Trumble of Boulder City told his mom he wanted to give blankets to the homeless as a birthday gift, his mom, Frannie, was shocked.

“He said he wanted to do something for the homeless and then he asked me if I would make clothes, and I don’t sew, so it was like ‘no, I don’t think so,’” she said. “So we asked, ‘really, you want to do something for the homeless?’ and he said ‘let’s do blankets.’”

Blaze, whose birthday was Tuesday, said he wanted to give out blankets because it was getting cold outside for the homeless. The family set out boxes around Boulder City and collected 263 blankets in nine days, which were given out at the rescue mission.

The Trumbles handed out the blankets beneath a large, white tent to shield them from the rain. Blaze wanted to volunteer in the kitchen, but couldn’t because volunteers must be at least 8 years old.

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