With a crush of celebrities serving up Thanksgiving at homeless shelters in major cities, some volunteers may be turned away: sign-up sheets at shelters this year look like a guest list for the Vanity Fair party at the Oscars. Celebrities are taking up Thanksgiving with a vengeance.
"If you’re a producer for 'The Bold and the Beautiful,' volunteering at a shelter could lead to a several-episode character arc. If you’re Dick Van Dyke, you’ll showcase a rap version of 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' during brunch on Thursday," Danielle Weiner-Bronner wrote at The Atlantic Wire. "Those are both true stories of Hollywood magic that you can find in an L.A. mission on Thanksgiving weekend."
The Los Angeles Times reports that celebrities Neil Patrick Harris, the star of "How I Met Your Mother" and host of the Emmy Awards, will be helping prepare the food alongside "Top Chef" winner Michael Voltaggio. Other well-known chefs from popular restaurants in the area will also be cooking.
"Voltaggio said his friend Roy Choi, author and chef of Kogi fusion taco fame, got him into volunteering last year," Gale Holland wrote at the Los Angeles Times. "Voltaggio walked into a planning meeting and discovered that he was in charge of dinner for 4,500."
"The UCLA football team and coach Jim Mora will join actress Kristen Bell in serving Thanksgiving dinner at the Pink Taco restaurant on the Sunset Strip to more than 500 homeless people receiving services from the Veterans Administration and the homeless services organization PATH," Fox LA reported.
In the past, stars like Zoe Saldana, Kim Kardashian, Blair Underwood, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kirk Douglas have helped feed the homeless, food blog Foodista reported.
Sign-ups were completely full by late September for shelters in Skid Row in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times piece.
"If you're in a major metro area and thinking about giving back tomorrow, maybe wait for a less popular time, when there's actually a greater need," The Atlantic Wire story said. "Shelters are especially hopeful for year-round volunteers in the next 12 months, as federal cuts to SNAP could mean more people leaning on soup kitchens for food."
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