Trail Blazers Ninth Annual Harvest Dinner
November 15, 2004
Check out photo galleries from the Harvest Dinner
Gallery 1 | Gallery 2
Thousands of Portland's most in need citizens are
expected to receive a helping hand from the Portland Trail Blazers,
Monday November 15, during the ninth annual Blazers Community Builders
Harvest Dinner. The team will begin serving meals at 2:00 p.m. and go
well into the evening, providing a holiday style meal and free haircuts
by Supercuts. The Trail Blazers Community Builders Harvest Dinner is
traditionally Portland's largest free dinner of its kind executed
entirely by the volunteer efforts of the team and Rose Quarter staff,
players, coaches, alumni, broadcasters, dance team, Wheel Blazers, and
Trail Blazers Booster Club.
"Today was all about helping people who need it. It was great to be able to serve them a nice meal and talk to them. After I served, I just stopped and talked to people and they told me about themselves," said Zach Randolph.
As Portland continues to face an increase in individuals and families
experiencing homelessness, high unemployment and one of the countries
highest percentages of two parent families living in poverty, the
Harvest Dinner effort brings the Blazers together with various local
nonprofits to serve a free Thanksgiving style dinner, including turkey,
ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and desserts.
The Trail Blazers work with over 50 community agencies who refer guests based on need,
including Volunteers of America, Central City Concern, Portland Impact,
Portland Rescue Mission, Loaves & Fishes and Albina Head Start. With
on-going support from the Trail Blazers, these agencies are also the
recipient of in-kind donations from the team throughout the year to
include tickets to games and other Rose Garden events, donations of
clothing and team memorabilia and Christmas trees during the Trail
Blazers annual Holiday Express in December.
In addition to more than 4,000 meals the Trail Blazers will hand out at
the Rose Garden, the staff and team members will take Harvest Dinner on
the road via the North/Northeast Meals-On-Wheels program, delivering
meals to homebound seniors.
"This is an event that P.J. Carlisemo started nine years ago and has had
such an impact on our organization that several of our players who have
moved on have started similar events with their new teams," said Traci
Rose, Trail Blazers director of community relations. "The first couple
of years we served an average of 2,000 and since then have seen a
greater need each year serving 5,000 people strong each of the past two
years."
The dinner consisted of :
1,100 pounds of turkey
1,100 pounds of ham
1,000 pounds of fresh fruit salad
48 heads of lettuce
1,000 pounds of stuffing
1,000 pounds of vegetables
50 gallons of gravy
75 gallons of cranberry sauce
10 lbs of salt
10 lbs of black ground pepper
9,000 butter pats
400 dozen dinner rolls
480 pumpkin pies
250 gallons of coffee
2,000 pints of milk
10,000 napkins
5,000 plates
3,000 bottles of water
240 gallons of Coca-Cola products.
Harvest Dinner would not be possible without the generous donations from
many Trail Blazers partners, including: Fred Meyer, Food Services of
America, Dasani Bottled Water, Foster Farms, West Farm Foods (Darigold),
Western Food Service Marketing, Farmland, Morton and Associates, Sugar
Foods, Uncle Ben's, Summit Brokerage, Campbell Soup, PACTIV, Columbia
Pacific Marketing, International Paper, Boyd's Coffee, Coca-Cola
Fountain, Ocean Spray, Sara Lee Corporation, Franz Bakery, Sun Coast
Fruit Company, Kenco Food Service, Integrity Landscape, Office Depot,
Collegiate USA, Supercuts, and the Trail Blazers Booster Club.
The Blazers team, coaches, broadcasters, alumni, Wheel Blazers, BlazerDancers, staff, sponsors, the Blazers Booster Club, vendors and families contribute both time and money to the event.
Watch a video from the Harvest Dinner
Watch other Featured Videos
|
