SANTA MONICA - Go stuff your turkey!  Thanksgiving is a time for giving and thousands of Angelenos are now ramping up to give back on turkey day. But giving and receiving are intimate partners – if you give in a forest and nobody is around to receive, does the giving still make an impact? – and L.A.’s large homeless population is now threatening to not be around to receive this Thanksgiving unless certain conditions are met.

The C.E.O. of the L.A. Homeless Coalition, Marcus Sweeney, sent a letter this week to L.A.’s homeless serving institutions (e.g., food banks, churches) informing them that the homeless aren’t showing up for the traditional free Thanksgiving meals if the meals don’t also include alcohol and money. “We’re tired of acting grateful for a plate of old turkey and yams,” said Sweeney.  “We can get food at all kinds of places now, we’re hardly starving. What we want is cash and booze. Why is that so difficult for folks to understand?”

---

"They think they can throw some mash potatoes on a plate and that’s all it takes?!"
— Jeremiah, homeless man

---

Many such institutions are now struggling to decide if they are going to meet the demands of the homeless as such high profile Thanksgiving feedings are an integral part of what they do. “The whole year essentially boils down to feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving,” said Tom Bishop, a Pastor at New Life Industries. “We work hard to get celebrities and Westsiders to come down and serve some turkey and gravy and give us a little gravy too so we can keep operating. If the homeless aren’t there doing their part – showing up looking and smelling like they need help – then we’re sunk.”

One homeless man, Jeremiah, feels that the homeless have been taken advantage of for far too many years by guilty rich people trying to cleanse their guilt palate and this year’s boycott is the right thing to do. “Jive ass people with their jive ass turkey. They think they can throw some mash potatoes on a plate and that’s all it takes. Did they ask us if we wanted runny old mash potatoes? No. They never cared enough to ask what we want.”

One homeless shelter, The Goodnight Mission, has decided to serve alcohol and they are asking volunteers to bring some cash to handout. “I am afraid that if we don’t meet their demands then they might decide to stop being homeless,” said Raul Sanchez. “We all depend on the homeless, their mere presence serves a purpose, and giving them the booze and the money is the best way to ensure that they will stay homeless.”