Last year, the Santa Clarita Veteran Services Collaborative served 77 Thanksgiving meals to veterans in need, organization officials said, adding that this year, the group hopes to serve 100 meals.
The collaborative hosted its second annual “Bringing It Home” fundraiser, an exclusive wine and hors d’oeuvre event, Thursday evening at Salt Creek Grille in the Valencia Town Center to raise money for those meals. According to Dennis Sugasawara, director of business and community relations for the collaborative, 60 people reserved spots for the “Bringing It Home” fundraiser, but 76 people attended.
“People just kept saying, ‘We want to come,’ ‘We want to come,’ ‘We want to come,’ and we couldn’t say no,” Sugasawara said. “Salt Creek said, ‘Yeah, bring them.’”
Tickets for the event were $75 a person, and all proceeds were to directly benefit efforts to bring holiday meals and support to area veterans.
The collaborative, which provides services to veterans, active-duty military and their families, also has a veteran center on Newhall Avenue in Newhall that offers computers, a library, a food pantry and other resources. Sugasawara said that last year, when the group didn’t have enough money in the general fund to provide Thanksgiving meals to vets in need, they came up with the idea to do “Bringing It Home.” It was such a success, he said, that they did it again this year.
Albert Rodriguez, president of the collaborative, said providing Thanksgiving meals is something they did on a much smaller scale in the early 2020s — providing about 25 meals for veteran families. These are full meals, he added, each with a turkey, gravy, potatoes, corn and bread.
“We are growing,” Rodriguez said. “I want to do 100. And at the same time — if I could — we’ll do hams for Christmas.”
Rodriguez spoke about the need. So many people, he said, have the idea that veterans who were wounded in combat, for example, are the veterans who need help. However, there are many other veterans who are homeless or who are low-income.
As a United States Marine himself, Rodriguez understands that veterans aren’t typically the type to ask for assistance. Perhaps it’s their pride. But veterans, he said, know who needs help, and they’ll always look to help those people out. That’s how the collaborative identifies those in need.
Rodriguez has seen how much the meals mean to these veterans. He gets text messages from vets they’ve served, which include pictures of veterans and their families enjoying holiday feasts. Or he’ll see the veterans with families out in public who will tell him how appreciative they are of what the collaborative and their donors did for them.
Emby Gonzalez, a veteran services officer for Los Angeles County Military Veterans Affairs, spoke to the group at the event on Thursday about why she does what she does, and why the collaborative and its efforts — efforts like raising money for veteran holidays meals — are important to her.
“I was in the Marine Corps for 21 years,” she said. “I became a chief warrant officer — best rank ever. I moved around a lot, was stationed in Hawaii … I went to Iraq, went to Afghanistan. My first week on the job at the Pentagon was 9/11, so, I got a little bit of experience in that. I’ve always wanted to give back, and I finally found it after seven years of being out here in California, that this was my calling, this was my purpose.”
Jennifer Chadwick, general manager of Salt Creek Grille, served wine at the fundraiser. She said the restaurant donated the food and wine for the event and was happy to provide a space for such a good cause.
“We’re thankful for them (veterans) and all they’ve given up in their lives to help keep our country safe and to help keep our freedom,” Chadwick said. “They (the collaborative) charge $75 a ticket, and they get all $75 for that ticket.”
Several area dignitaries attended the fundraiser on Thursday, including Santa Clarita Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste and City Councilwoman Patsy Ayala, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, and representatives of the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
For more information about the collaborative, go to SCV-vets.org.
