Glenn Racine cannot remember when he last had a traditional Thanksgiving where he and his family gathered around a kitchen table to enjoy a freshly cooked turkey and recount timeless holiday memories.
That is because since the age of 6, Racine has lived in the foster care system.
But on Tuesday night, two-days before Thanksgiving Day, Racine,20, celebrated Thanksgiving the same way he has for the past few years.
He was just one of 100 current and former foster youth at Trolley Trestle where South Bay Community Services hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner with the help of the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors, who provided food, drinks and several volunteers.
“It is a great thing for me because there is a lot of people who do not have the opportunity to have Thanksgiving with their family,” Racine said. “…It helps me see how far I’ve come.”
Racine said he is entering the next phase of his life including finding a career he will enjoy.
The event brings in current and former foster children who have no place to go or simply just want to come and hangout.
“In an event like this, there will be people who live in the program or come here for services but there also will be people who have lived here years ago that know that Tuesday before Thanksgiving we have dinner here,” said case manager at SBCS Tim Gonzales.
Trolley Trestle serves as a transitional housing unit for foster children who are transitioning out of the foster system into living on their own as adults. Once a person turns 18 they must live on their own as adults.
Kandi Miller, escrow assistant at Marina Vista Escrow, and a member of PRSA said she jumped at the opportunity to help because as a former Court Appointed Special Advocate she knows what supporting foster youth can do for an adult once they live the foster system.
“It’s something I just love to do, I love to volunteer,” she said. “I know how the foster care system works with the kids and how important it is for them to feel that even though they are not in the system anymore that they have support because if not they end up straying and going bad when they have people that care about them.”
