Letter: Community Pitches In

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Members of the community join Malibu Methodist for Thanksgiving dinner, which is put on by volunteer hours and donated foods. 

Thanks to all of your efforts, we hosted a beautiful Thanksgiving feast at the Malibu United Methodist Church. Together we served nearly 400 people. Guests and volunteers were treated to festive mariachi music by Banda Agave Azul, led by Gregorio Saavedra. Children participated in two holiday craft projects. There were free haircuts and massages and guests received warm clothing and personal care gift bags to take home.

Thank you to the students and families who provided food, to those who came the day before to set up and decorate and to all who shared their Thanksgiving day by serving, cleaning, cutting pies, pouring drinks, bussing tables, taking out trash, having big smiles and doing whatever needed to be done to make the day a success.

Thank you to the following local businesses for donating food and gift cards including Café Habana, Chipotle, Kaishin, Lily’s, Marmalade, Pavilions, PC Greens, Sage Room, Spruzzos and Sunset. Thank you to Susan Helm’s class at Pepperdine for cooking 60 pies. 

Thank you to everyone who donated personal care items for our gift bags including Bruce Friedman, The Crest Club at Pepperdine, Muse, Wonder Years and Boy Scout Malibu Pack 119.

Thank you to Juan Cabrillo families for providing trail mix, the Kyle and Mastrippolito families for hosting craft tables, Nikki Rae Gabbard, Hannah Lamonea and Celeste of Oceanne Salon for cutting and Kay Berman for providing massages.

Thank you to Robert Steinbach squeezing fresh orange juice for guests and volunteers every year and Sangita Alvarez-Stehele for helping to organize the clothing drive.

A special thank you to Isaac Vandor and Eden Ettenger for working so hard, weeks in advance, organizing all of the food donations and our volunteers. A big thank you to all of the Malibu congregations for your support: Rev. Sandy Liddell and Malibu United Methodist Church, Rabbi Judith HaLevy and Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue and Kay Gabbard and Malibu Methodist Nursery School.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, generous new year!

Diane Malecha, Cindy Vandor and Janet EttengerÂ