We’re switching things up this month.
My nine-year-old daughter, Allegra Sheikh Ginsberg, is taking over my column. Allegra recently attended the Day of Thanks event with me, hosted by the nonprofit organization Harbor Connects.
I sit on the board of Harbor Connects. The Day of Thanks is our annual event where we bring together our partners—the service providers doing the frontline work we help support with critical, flexible gap-filling funding—and simply thank them. This year, more than 17 organizations and 132 amazing staff came together to be celebrated.
I want my kids to grow up with a better understanding of what it takes for our community to truly help and care for each other—and to meet the people doing this critical work daily. So here is her experience, in her own words, of what she heard and observed during the Day of Thanks:
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Hello, I’m Allegra, and I got to go to the Day of Thanks with my mom. The Day of Thanks is an event where we give service providers a break. When I say break, I mean a lunch with music, a raffle, and a photo booth. Basically, we give them a day of fun and say thanks to our service providers. Also, it is put on by Harbor Connects.
I met some groups that I was not familiar with, and I met groups I was familiar with. So, here’s who I met and got to ask some questions:
LA Fire Dept. Deputy Chief Jaime Moore
Let’s start with LA Fire Dept. Deputy Chief Jaime Moore. I asked if I could ask him a few questions. He said, “I assume you want to know what the fire department does for homelessness?”
He explained to me that the fire department helped homeless people when they were sick, and he said he was also trying to help them before they got sick, so they never got sick. “It’s like, if you take vitamins before you get sick so that you won’t get sick.”
LAPD Sgt. Manlove
Next, I talked to LAPD Sgt. Manlove. I told him I wanted to know how the LAPD helped with homelessness.
He told me the “LAPD helps homeless people by bringing them resources such as food and water.”
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, Jose
In line for lunch, I started a great conversation with Jose, an LAHSA outreach worker. I told him how I was writing for my mom’s column this month and asked him what he did. He told me that, as an outreach worker, he goes to encampments and checks in on people.
South Bay Center for Counseling, Yvette
Then I talked to Yvette. She is the director of family well-being at SBCC. I asked her what she did, and she said there were many things they did for low-income families. She told me that they tutor kids and have career development programs and mental health services. She also let me know that they help new moms who are struggling.
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Later in the day, I asked Allegra to reflect on how the 132 attendees who work from Watts to the Harbor seemed to feel that Thursday afternoon. We both agreed that they seemed relaxed, happy—even emotional.
The end of the year is the season of gratitude. While my sincerest wish is that we would sustain this level of thankfulness throughout the year, I am grateful that our community doubles down during this time to ensure our neighbors are well cared for.
But this also means our frontline workers are doing even more (often with less) year-round. So we thank them for pouring so much of themselves into this critical work—because of them, our community shines so much brighter all year round. spt
