The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians’ philanthropic arm, the Soboba Foundation, provided 2,000 Thanksgiving meals to families of students in the San Jacinto and Hemet unified school districts, as well as community members. The Soboba Gives Back distributions were held Nov. 20-22 ahead of the weeklong Thanksgiving holiday for students.
Families identified by school site parent liaisons received a voucher that enabled them to drive through the distribution area after checking in. When the program first began several years ago, families were treated to a 20-plus pound turkey. As inflation increased in recent years, Soboba Foundation board members decided it was important for families to be given more, and all the fixings were added.
Along with the large frozen turkey, each family also received a large package of cornbread stuffing, a huge can of turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, corn, green beans, rolls and seasoned mashed potatoes and a pumpkin pie.
The San Jacinto High School stadium parking lot was transformed into a two-lane pick-up station for 700 families who have students attending San Jacinto Unified School District schools. Items were sorted by dry and frozen and bagged by a steady stream of helping hands. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers from the Soboba Foundation, Soboba Tribal Council, Soboba Casino Resort, Soboba Tribal Environmental Department, the school district and the community, as well as Tribal members Bianca Machado and Alex Vallejo, vehicles were safely and swiftly loaded with all the essentials needed for a delicious Thanksgiving feast in just a couple of hours.
The day before this event, 300 meal fixings were distributed to local organizations that reach families that do not have children attending schools in either district. One nonprofit that received 125 of the 300 turkey meals was Valley Community Pantry.
SJUSD registered nurse Kim DeWald was helping out for the first time. “I made it a point to be out here this year,” she said. SJUSD Superintendent Dave Pyle was on turkey duty, taking them out of big boxes to place one on each rolling cart where bags of other items were added. He said the event gives district employees an opportunity to step away from what they do on a daily basis and make an impact on the community in a different way.
“It is so fulfilling to be part of this program every year that helps so many families in our community who wouldn’t otherwise have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner,” Pyle said. “It’s great to be working with Soboba again. This is always one of my favorite days of the year.”
Upbeat music played on loudspeakers as cars were ushered into the parking lot and a long line of representatives from each school, including mascots, stood along the route cheering and wishing them a happy holiday.
Anthony Segura has been teaching for 10 years, spending the last three at the state preschool program near the Edward Hyatt World Language Academy campus.
“I love to give back; it’s awesome to be the change,” he said. “It’s exciting seeing all the employees working together. It brings us all together and I think that meets our concept of ‘The San Jacinto Difference.’”
The following day, many of the same volunteers were at the parking lot of Hemet Unified School District’s administration offices on Acacia Ave. to serve families of students who attend HUSD schools. Soboba Foundation President Dondi Silvas stayed busy both days directing traffic at San Jacinto and helping to load cars at Hemet.
“We are truly blessed that we are able to do so much for the families in the neighboring communities that surround the Soboba Indian reservation,” Silvas said. “Hearing the heartfelt thank yous from the families as we load their cars, especially from the tiniest voices, gives us all a warm and joyous feeling.”
Soboba Tribal Council members Mike Bentiste and Daniel Valdez also serve as board members for the Foundation and always volunteer to help out and Vice Chairwoman Geneva Mojado also volunteered at both locations.
“Soboba gives back in many different ways throughout the year but during the holidays we get to see firsthand who benefits the most,” Mojado said. “It is very humbling to know that we can provide something that seems so simple but means so much to each individual family that is served by this program.”
HUSD’s Nutrition Services department assembled 1,000 boxes and bags a few days prior to the event. The dry goods were placed into a box with a “Happy Thanksgiving” sticker while the bags contained the frozen items.
Claudia Aguilar, who works at the district’s warehouse, brought a festive twist to the event by wearing a turkey costume as she greeted participants driving by. “We’re delivering love right now,” she said.
Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce Chair Patricia Scott enlisted the help of many members to join her to pitch in. She herself has been a member since 2014 and volunteers every year. “The board has always been supportive of this event and our partners are very responsive to coming out to serve the community every year,” she said. “I will take any opportunity to serve; I love it.”
CR&R Sustainability Coordinator Derik Fields, who heard about the volunteer opportunity from Scott, said, “I used to work in a grocery store so I’m kind of used to the busy holiday season.”
To keep the area clear of clutter, several helpers stayed busy breaking down the boxes as they were emptied of their contents and loading the cardboard into large recycling bins.
Refrigerated trucks were constantly being unloaded by forklifts with the pallets delivered to the nearby canopied distribution area for easy access. The process went smoothly, with everyone working together like a well-oiled machine to keep the rows of vehicles flowing.
Miriam Ortiz, Coordinator for School, Family and Community Partnerships at HUSD, said, “We are super grateful for the opportunity to be included in this program and to be able to share this with our families. We have such a great team of parent liaisons and a lot of cross collaboration to ensure that each individual family gets what they need.”
Marisol Inda is a parent liaison at West Valley and took on traffic duty to guide cars into the parking lot from the public streets. She has worked for Hemet Unified for 12 years, the last eight as a parent liaison. For the past 10 years she has also assisted as an interpreter throughout the district as she is fluent in English, Spanish and ASL. Inda said vouchers are given out based on referrals from staff, other students or the families themselves. The school was given 110 this year.
She has been helping with the Soboba Gives Back turkey distribution since it began. “I love helping others and being part of the community,” Inda said.
Ortiz said families were asked to complete an online survey following the event about what went well, and the overwhelming response was that it was “excellent.” Comments included, “Very quick and efficient. Everyone was very kind,” while another wrote, “It was so well organized. All the smiling faces were so wonderful to see. We are beyond blessed to be part of something so amazing.”
One family commented, “Thank you so much, my children are so excited. We had experienced multiple passings in the last few months.” Another one wrote, “They were very well-organized regarding traffic, and everything went very fast. And I am now going to be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner for my family. Thank you.”
