Students help provide dinner at shelter
The dated cafeteria at the Sunshine Mission-Casa de Rosas, a nearby women’s shelter, turns out one hot meal per day for its residents — but rarely is that meal as bountiful as Wednesday’s Thanksgiving meal will be.
For the second year in a row after a brief hiatus, USC occupational therapy graduate students will volunteer their time at the mission, located at the corner of Hoover Street and Adams Boulevard, to put on a Thanksgiving dinner for the residents. This year, 20 students will go to the shelter and about 20 others will be helping with the planning, funding and food — far more than last year.
Ray of sunshine · Constance Hamilton works the reception desk at Sunshine Mission-Casa de Rosas. Hamilton also lives at the mission. - Dieuwertje Kast | Daily Trojan
The dinners used to be an annual occurrence, but were halted in 2004 because of issues with the mission’s director, residents say.
“They used to do it in the past, but the lady that was before us, she didn’t want nobody to be here … So she kind of, like, pushed them away,” said Teryl Warren, a resident of the complex for 13 years.
Last year, occupational therapy students decided to bring the tradition back. Celso Delgado, the previous program coordinator and current residential advisor for Centennial Apartments, a building specifically for graduate occupational therapy students, led the push to reinstate the dinner, and is leading the charge again this year.
Delgado, now a doctoral student in the occupational therapy program, remembered the dinner from several years back and said he was surprised to learn that it hadn’t been put on since 2004.
“I was a master’s student in occupational therapy back in 2005, and when I was, I was the RA for this building back then,” Delgado said. “It was traditional to have that dinner at the Sunshine Mission, and … whoever the RA was, one of their responsibilities was to run it.”
About two weeks ago, Delgado began contacting his residents to gauge their interest in again putting on the annual Thanksgiving supper. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response, Delgado began to delegate jobs to his residents.
To finance the event, Delgado sought funds from multiple sources, including URSC, Graduate, Upperclassman and Family building government and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate.
With the occupational therapy department donating four turkeys and most of the volunteers supplying one dish that they will prepare at home and bring to Casa de Rosas potluck-style, the Thanksgiving dinner is a collaborative effort.
Chrissy Kim, a graduate student studying occupational therapy who will participate in the event, said she is excited to be involved and tried to get as many people involved as possible.
“As the Community Service chair of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate and being an OT student, I tried to utilize my position to get as many graduate students of other disciplines involved into this great event,” Kim said. “Graduate students tend to stick to their discipline and are primarily involved in events hosted by their departments, but the community is best served by multi-disciplinary talents.”
Yecica Robles, the mission’s manager, said she is grateful for the work of the occupational therapy students, as the mission would be unable to host the dinner otherwise.
“The building is just going through hard times right now, financially,” Robles said.
Robles said Sunshine Mission has seen all of its government funding cut in recent years. The mission now relies on donations and revenue generated from the $306 monthly rent that residents of the Casa de Rosas complex’s single-occupancy apartments are charged.
Because of its limited funds, Sunshine Mission cannot currently afford to house any women in the upstairs portion of the main building. When times were better, women in need were offered accommodations for 30 to 90 days, allowing the women sufficient time to get back on their feet.
Casa de Rosas, a 55-unit residential complex configured to resemble a motel, was built in 1893 and has been designated a Historical Landmark by the City of Los Angeles.
The closely related Sunshine Mission has been operated from Casa de Rosas facilities since 1942, but its operations are distinct from Casa de Rosas’ in that the emergency housing and transitional living facilities Sunshine Mission provides to as many as 30 single homeless women are free of cost for up to 90 days.