Pasadena Volunteers Are the Lifeline For the Homeless This Holiday Season

An army of generous volunteers are gearing up to serve free hot meals to Pasadena’s homeless — between 500 and 700 individuals — on Christmas Day for Union Station Homeless Services’ annual “Christmas at the Station” dinner event. The local volunteer turnout continues to hit event capacity and proves to be a testament to the City’s mission to end homelessness and provide joy to those who are less fortunate this holiday season.

“We have about two hundred volunteers supporting us for this particular event. They are proving how important that community support is to helping us help others,” said Union Station Homeless Services Director of Volunteer and Community Programs Stephanie Harris.

“Christmas at the Station” is the secondary event to the very successful Thanksgiving Day’s “Dinner in the Park” in which the number of volunteers that registered online was so overwhelming that the group’s website crashed; the volunteer count for that event reached maximum capacity with over 600 community volunteers willing to spend their holiday helping others, according to Harris.

Despite volunteer positions being filled, there are other opportunities for people to give back for Christmas. According to Union Station’s Chief Program Officer Ryan Izell, community members have organized toy drives and created custom holiday cards for the homeless who are without a roof on Christmas day.

“This way everyone who comes to the event will not only get a wonderful hot meal, but they will also get a greeting card wishing them happy holidays. Something that small can really go a long way during this time of year,” explained Izell.

The food is almost entirely funded and donated by volunteers.

“This year specifically volunteers helped us collect majority for the food that is going to be served,” said Harris.

The winter months to be more of a a challenge for the homeless due to more severe weather conditions.

Local non-profit Friends In Deed opened its Bad Weather Shelter doors last month as nighttime temperatures plummeted and the local homeless faced damp, cold nights.

The Bad Weather Shelter is weather activated and will operate on nights when forecasts predict temperatures of 40 degrees or below and/or 40% chance of rain, from now through until March, 2017.

“It’s definitely a needed service. Every year there are individuals that die on the streets, particularly people with a variety of health concerns. The bad weather shelter’s core mission is anti-hypothermia to ensure that people will not die on the streets due to severe weather conditions,” said City of Pasadena Director of Housing William Huang in a previous article.

The Shelter is expected to provide approximately 2,000 homeless guests with a cot, sheet, blanket, and a hot meal over the next few months. It currently is able to house up to 140 people per night.

Volunteers provided 845 hours of assistance in the 2015-2016 season alone.

Union Station is also doing what they can to give people shelter during the winter months.

“We’re also extending the ours at our shelter. For the days that it’s raining we do keep the facility open so people do have a place to stay inside and out of the elements and move from there over to the Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter if they’re interested in doing so,” said Izell.

It’s never too late to donate necessities to help keep the homeless warm during the chilly winter months. Union Station is encourages donations of warm clothes such as jackets and socks in addition hygiene kits, according to Izell.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of collaboration and support from the community in all regards and because of that we’ve had tremendous success and our homeless count number have gone down,” said Izell.

“Christmas at the Station” kicks off on Christmas Day from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Union Station Homeless Services’ Adult Center located at 412 S. Raymond Ave.

For more information visit, http://unionstationhs.org/event/christmas2016/.