Councilmember Hampton, Union Station Board Carve Turkey For Dinner In The Park

On Monday members of the Union Station Homeless Station Board and Councilmember Tyron Hampton carved turkeys for meals that will be served at Union Station’s traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in the Park for those in need.

Most of the 250 turkeys were carved over the weekend. The meals were already placed in containers and ready to be delivered.

The turkey carving took place in the kitchens of Sodexo Live!, the Pasadena Convention Center’s food and beverage provider.  Sodexo Live! is cooking hundreds of turkeys for Union Station Homeless Services’ free Thanksgiving free meal service.

Hampton also serves as Pasadena Center Operating Company (PCOC) Board Chair. He was joined on Monday by Union Station Homeless Services Board Member Deserae Jones, Union Station Homeless Services Vice President of Development Mario Galeano, Sodexo Live! Regional Executive Chef JC Pulido, Pasadena Center Operating Company (PCOC) Chief Executive Officer Michael Ross, and Sodexo Live! General Manager Christina Sherwood.

“Thanksgiving is the opportunity for our families to get together, spend time with one another, and also reflect on things,” Hampton told Pasadena Now. “There’s just so much that we have to be grateful for. I think every day that we wake up with morning with breath in our lungs and beating hearts, I think that’s a blessing. This is our opportunity to try to reflect on the things that we should be thankful for throughout the year, and also to figure out how we can help and how we can be a blessing, giving back to everyone in our sphere.”

Union Station Homeless Services is expected to serve thousands through its signature Thanksgiving Day meal program, a cornerstone of Pasadena’s community service landscape for over 50 years. The nonprofit requires 750 frozen turkeys for “Dinner in the Park,” an event that has evolved into an extensive five-day operation serving multiple locations throughout the city.

“We look forward to this event each year during the holiday season,” Ross said. “We appreciate Union Station Homeless Services’ commitment to the Pasadena community and the essential support it provides. It’s an honor to collaborate with them to put a warm meal on the table for those experiencing food insecurity.”

Hampton and the Board members received a carving demonstration before going to work on the turkeys on Monday in the kitchen at the Convention Center.

“The bird’s not going to hurt you, right,” said Chef J.C. Pulido. “It’s not going to fly away. The bird does all the work really, if you just kind of pull back the legs. The bones are always going to crack where they need to, the joints. So it’s just gliding your knife right down there.”

Pulido said many people are overwhelmed the first time they carve a turkey.

“They’re scared of the bird. But the bird does all the guiding.”