Big Sunday relies on volunteers to help distribute food to the needy. (Beverly Press/Park Labrea News file photo)

For more than a decade, hundreds of people gathered at Big Sunday’s headquarters at 6111 Melrose Ave. on the day before Thanksgiving to fill bags with food for people in need. The event became an annual tradition, attracting volunteers from throughout Los Angeles County.

This year, Big Sunday’s 11th annual Thanksgiving Stuffing Event is expected to bring hundreds of people together again on Wednesday, Nov. 23, but at a different location – Baldwin Hills Elementary School. After 13 years in the same location, Big Sunday moved in early November to 4351 Melrose Ave., and the new location does not have enough space to accommodate the Thanksgiving event.

“We are holding the event at a new wonderful space and we are actually filling more bags than ever,” Big Sunday founder David Levinson said. “We are going to fill over 3,000 bags that will be going to over 90 different schools, organizations and nonprofits in the Los Angeles area, which will distribute them to the homeless, seniors, people who are homebound, runaways, families, veterans, all sorts of people.”

The Thanksgiving event will be held from 9 a.m.-noon at the school, 5241 Obama Blvd. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up at bigsunday.org.  “We are thinking of it as a festival of gratitude this year, after some very trying years,” Levinson added. “We had done a lot of work with them over the years, it’s a wonderful school. There are a lot murals there painted by Big Sunday volunteers. We thought since the students would be out of school next week for the holiday, it seemed like a great place to hold the event. We have a great relationship with them.”

Volunteers will fill bags with boxed and canned foods like stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn bread mix and green beans, as well as fresh produce. The bags also include gift cards to purchase turkeys and other main courses.

“It’s everything they need for a Thanksgiving dinner,” Levinson added.

Big Sunday partners with dozens of social service organizations, which distribute the bags filled with food to clients. Levinson said those partnerships are important because the organizations supply teams of volunteers.

Wilshire Rotary is among Big Sunday’s longtime partners, and 10-12 members are planning to participate in the upcoming Thanksgiving Stuffing Event.

“We provide a $2,500 grant in sponsorship to Big Sunday, and we also provide volunteers,” Wilshire Rotary president Joyce Kleifield said. “Many members volunteer to put together bags of food to distribute to the community. It very much tracks with Rotary’s mission of fighting poverty and feeding the hungry.”

Big Sunday’s relocation to new headquarters was planned for more than a year, as the nonprofit’s former location will be demolished to make way for a new development at Melrose Avenue and Seward Street. Levinson said the organization and its former landlord parted on good terms.

Levinson said the new space, located on Melrose Avenue near Los Angeles City College, will likely be home for a couple years until Big Sunday purchases a building. In the meantime, Levinson said all the regular Big Sunday events and activities will be held at different locations in the community or organized online.

“Go to bigsunday.org, it’s all there,” Levinson said. “There are opportunities for people of all ages, from the way young to the very old. There is something for everybody who wants to help. We are also still looking for people to help at the Thanksgiving Stuffing Event.”

Rachel Schwartz, who oversees public relations for Big Sunday, said the Thanksgiving Stuffing Event also includes a communal breakfast for volunteers to build unity among the group. She said that the desire to help others translates into participation in other Big Sunday events.

“At the core, it’s the notion that everyone has something they can do to help someone else,” Schwartz said. “Everyone can help in some way, and we encourage people to sign up.”