Love in the air as 300 served for Thanksgiving
EL CENTRO — Richard and Rhonda Sewell exchanged wedding vows for the third time in three years on Thursday and then they went out for dinner.
Their meals were two of about 300 Thanksgiving dinners served by volunteers for the Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center. The food, which included turkey with all the traditional trimmings and a slice of pie, was distributed at the Eagles Lodge at 661 W. State
St. Other meals were hand-delivered to homeless and other less-fortunate persons around the city.
The Sewells, who live in a small trailer near Sunbeam Lake, said they usually go out for a meal of some kind on Thanksgiving, although this was the first time they’d ever attended the LGBT Resource Center event. Rhonda Sewell said they read about it in this newspaper and made plans accordingly.
The first thing the couple said they did, though, was renew their commitment to each other. The Sewells said they have been a couple about five years and married for three.
“I haven’t been in love with a woman like this since 1973,” Richard Sewell said. “I gave her my whole heart. She’s worth that.”
About 35 volunteers participated in preparing, serving and delivering Thursday’s free meal. Among them was IVC second-year student Emanuel Reyes. It was the first time the 22-year-old clinical psychology student participated in the event, which originated about five years ago. Although he had plans to celebrate Thanksgiving later in the day with his own family, Reyes said he didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to participate in what he sees as “a noble cause.”
Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center founder and Executive Director Rosa Diaz likewise had plans to celebrate the holiday with her family after she and the rest of the volunteers, who came from as far away as San Diego, finished cleaning up.
She acknowledged the event involves a lot of work, but for her it’s worth it for the people it helps and the gratitude they express.
“It means we’re doing the right thing,” Diaz said, “because it’s true some people can’t afford it (a Thanksgiving dinner).”