Dodgers News: Klein, Dodger Alums participate in Dream Center Turkey Giveaway
LOS ANGELES — Wednesday afternoon in Echo Park, the Dodgers turned the Dream Center into a Thanksgiving drive-thru for families who needed a little extra help heading into the holiday. Cars lined up outside 2301 Bellevue Avenue while staff, volunteers, and a few familiar Dodger faces greeted fans and loaded up trunks with everything needed for a full Thanksgiving meal.
The annual event, presented in partnership with Jacoby & Meyers, once again showed how deeply the Dodgers were rooted in the Los Angeles community. This year, the club and its partners distributed 1,500 Thanksgiving meals to local families. Each car that pulled through received a full spread: a turkey along with cranberry sauce, boxed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and pies. For many families facing a tough year financially, it made the difference between worrying about Thanksgiving and being able to enjoy it.
Volunteers from Jacoby & Meyers worked side by side with Dodger pitcher (and World Series hero) Will Klein and Dodger alumni Dennis Powell, Billy Ashley, and Kenny Landreaux. They loaded bags of food directly into vehicles, waved to kids in the back seats, and took quick photos with fans when the line allowed. The partnership with LAUSD and local community leaders helped spread the word beforehand, which meant that the families who needed it most knew where to go and when to arrive for the first-come, first-served giveaway.
Before the event, Dodgers vice president of Community and Government Affairs Kristin McCowan spoke about what this drive-thru meant to the organization. She said the Dodgers were proud to stand with the community every day and that the holiday season was an especially meaningful time to give back. She pointed to the reality that many Angelenos had been facing serious financial hardship this year and talked about how important it felt to provide 1,500 families with a large turkey and all the trimmings. In her words, the goal was simple: help make the holiday season a little brighter for those who needed it most.
“Being able to host it here at the Dream Center this year has also ensured that we can also reach our walk-up population, which we’ve had trouble reaching at the stadium,” McCowan said. “But the beauty of it is several hundred people are able to access this event um and walk up and get all of their supplies and bring them home as well as drive through. And so it’s it’s just a really wonderful way to meet people where they are.”
World Series workhorse Klein, still buzzing no doubt from his recently acquired folk hero status, echoed the sentiments. “I’m here because it’s just it’s important to give back to the people that need it and like I said like they supported us all year and they’ve been going through it and so just be able to play a little role and you know hopefully making their Thanksgiving and their life a little better is really special and [there’s] nowhere I’d rather be.”
By the time the last turkey left the lot, 1,500 households had a little less to worry about and a lot more to look forward to on Thanksgiving. The smiles, the waves, and the Dodger blue scattered throughout the Dream Center parking lot told the story. It was more than a giveaway. It was the team and its partners showing once again that being a Dodger in Los Angeles did not end at the warning track.
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