La Quinta High School Culinary Academy hosts ‘Feed the Heroes’ luncheon for Veterans Day
The La Quinta High School Culinary Academy along with the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon today in honor of Veterans Day.
The event was held Thursday at the Blackhawk Kitchen located at 79255 Blackhawk Way in La Quinta.
“This Thanksgiving meal is awesome. There’s turkey and ham – it's a whole Thanksgiving meal,” said Edward G. Johnson, a Vietnam veteran.
Johnson said he’s been coming to the luncheon for years now. It's the first time in 3 years the event brought everyone together in person.
Plate after plate, LQHS culinary students served up all the Thanksgiving fixings. From turkey to pie these students prepared and cooked every dish. Their instructor says it took some time.
“It’s been almost 32 hours,” said Felicia Benavides, culinary specialist at LQHS.
Every student in the program had a hand in making sure lunch was ready to serve.
“Our Freshman class baked our dinner rolls from scratch. Our Sophomores, they broke down aloof the turkeys – the 15 turkeys – and we brined them, and then our Juniors baked our apple pies and our pumpkin pies from scratch and then the Seniors did all of the sides and then got here this morning and we cooked everything," Benavides said.
A couple of students we spoke with say participating in the event means a lot to them.
“It's a lot of fun though, getting to do this with the other culinary kids and it's for such a great cause. My uncle, Kevin Garrison, was in the military and this is such a meaningful day to me because of that,” said Katelyn Garrison, a sophomore at LQHS.
“My dad is a Marine, he’s on active duty right now. So, Veterans Day has always been such a meaningful thing in my house. It’s a really meaningful day and so I’m really happy that I’m able to make cranberry sauce and that’s like a way of giving back to them,” said LQHS sophomore Summer Piñon.
The luncheon also offers members of the community an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of Veterans Day.
“Freedom is not free and without veterans serving in different wars and different conflicts going on, you wouldn’t be able to stand here and talk to me right now, and then letting the kids do this for the veterans is awesome.” Johnson said.
