By Daily Press staff
NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor and the entire LA Clippers executive staff served Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings to homeless men, women and children last week.
On hand to help was 8-year-old Hunter Howard and his father, Christian Howard, at St. Joseph Center’s Bread & Roses Café in Venice on Nov. 23.
“He’s been doing it since he was 4 and he loves it,” Christian Howard said. “It gives him a good perspective on life at an early age.”
Later the same day Hunter Howard and his father joined head coach Mike Dunleavy and Clippers players Lionel Chalmers, Marko Jaric, Mikki Moore, Mamadou N’diaye, and Chris Wilcox at the center’s administration building to give away more than 300 turkeys, bags of food, and stacks of clothing to families in need.
The NBA basketball team has been showing up at St. Joseph Center to distribute meals and bags of groceries for the past 14 years.
“The Clippers organization is tremendous,” said Maria Alderete, the center’s coordinator of volunteers. “To take the time out of their busy schedules to come here and get involved is an inspiration to all of us.”
St. Joseph Center assists more than 7,000 working poor and homeless men, women and children each year to achieve self-sufficiency through emergency services, childcare, case management, job training and senior services. For more information, call (310) 396-6468, ext. 325 or visit www.stjosephctr.org.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 30, 2004. Read the original PDF.