The night was already phenomenal.
Things opened up with prayer in both Spanish and English. There wasn’t an empty seat in the room.
CAVS Youth Basketball kids as young as 7 up to age 14 served food, bagged bread and distributed diapers and other supplies for the sea of smiling, appreciative homeless families at Hope of The Valley Rescue Mission in North Hollywood, Thursday, December 8th, 2011.
Proud CAVS parents (who braved traffic just to arrive as early as 5:15pm) organized groups of CAVS kids for the efforts.
CAVS kids prepare "take-home" care packages for homeless families.
Kids received explanations of exactly what it meant to help others in need.
Celene Culhaoglu explains to CAVS youth what giving is all about.
Rocky Peak Church cooked the food, while Rescue Mission employees made sure things ran smoothly.
It was a good time had by all. The homeless families left with care packages, tables were cleared and stored, floors swept and mopped.
Then actor Quinton Aaron walked in.
OMG.
What a surprise! Mouths dropped as many of the CAVS kids recognized the actor right away. We certainly saw him clearly enough, as all 6-foot-8 feet of him bounded through the room, with a smile. Pens and multiple sheets of paper were immediately produced (one child even offered up a crayon) to retrieve Aaron’s autograph. Some nabbed him for separate shots.
Others didn’t even know his name, but recognized him from his role as Sandra Bullock’s adopted son in the critically acclaimed movie “The Blind Side”, based on football player Michael Oher.
No matter what....everyone was grateful.
“Quinton didn’t have to do it.” said CAVS Youth Basketball’s Membership Director, Deana Devereaux.
Erika Aldridge and Deana Devereaux
“He didn’t have to show up at all to meet our kids, as we were told after he'd arrived that he was already late for an appointment…but he did. Quinton is humble and kind—a gentle giant. His heart’s in the right place.”
Quinton Aaron and CAVS Youth Basketball's Marcy Mengesha
It doesn’t hurt that Quinton Aaron is a huge (no pun intended) supporter of the Hope of The Valley Rescue Mission, as evident by his appearance alongside Cedric The Entertainer, R&B legend Jeffrey Osborne, former NBA sensation Jalen Rose, and former Laker Jerry West during the organization's homeless dinner event this past Thanksgiving, 2011. In fact, it is even rumored that the talented actor may become an official Ambassador for Hope of The Valley, which has served over 40,000 hot, nutritious meals, distributed over 16,000 articles of clothing, provided over 9,000 hygiene kits, 850 showers and numerous referrals for shelter—all in their first 24 months of operation, which originally began in 2009.
Truthfully? Quinton Aaron wasn’t even scheduled to appear at Hope of The Valley Thursday night. Why? Well, for starters, it wasn’t a celeb event. It was only supposed to be the CAVS kids feeding homeless families for the first time together. However, a slight mix-up in a media blurb spoke of Quinton's confirmed attendance anyway and he had to be invited at the last minute. Ha! We all know what that’s like. It’s the equivalent of chasing a needle in a haystack, or a speck of lint in a swimming pool. Busy celebs normally don’t respond in kind to 99th hour invitations---some because they flat out don’t want to…and others because they are already tied up with something else.
Well…everyone from CAVS Youth Basketball and Hope of The Valley Rescue Mission is mighty glad one did respond.
We’ll just come on out and say it.
Quinton Aaron ROCKS!!
On behalf of CAVS Youth Basketball we’d like to thank the following people (besides Quinton Aaron, Raffles Entertainment and Sal & Chani Williams - which are all AMAZING, by the way!!) for making our kids’ very first (but certainly not the last) homeless volunteer effort a GREAT experience:
All of our dedicated CAVS parents who brought their kids to the event!! Thank you for your support!!
Jonathan Leeper, Ken Craft & The Entire Hope of The Valley Rescue Mission Staff & Volunteers
Sonya Marchand, Celene Culhaoglu, Ida Yenney, Rocky Peak Church
Deana Devereaux, Erika & Sean Aldridge, Annie Pender, Arminda Gonzalez
CAVS Coaches Darryl McDonald, Kris Walker and Mike Irving
A VERY SPECIAL thank you to all of our wonderful CAVS KIDS who lent their services to help all of the homeless families.
To all of the homeless families we had the pleasure of meeting: God loves you and so do we. Keep your heads up for a brighter day of change!
**To check out ALL event photos (including all photos above) please visit our Facebook Album HERE:
CAVS Youth Basketball.
DON'T BE ORDINARY. GAME ON.
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