Developers of Pasadena’s famous fork in the road hope that their food drive this weekend will generate as much enthusiasm as the 18-foot utensil.
Residents can drop off food from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Pasadena and St. John avenues.
All the food collected from “Put a Fork in Hunger” will benefit Union Station Homeless Services to feed people in Pasadena’s Central Park on Thanksgiving Day.
“It’s really taken a life of its own,” said organizer Phil Coombs of the fork and its philanthropic arm. “It’s become more of a movement than anything else.”
Coombs came up with the idea to run a food drive in 2009 when the fork’s fate was still in jeopardy.
“If we do something really nice,” he thought, “there will be pressure to keep it there.”
So the self-proclaimed “Fork in the Road Gang” ran the first installment of a food drive that raised 2 tons of food for Thanksgiving. Now that the fork is back, the food drive is too. And Coombs said organizers hope to bring in 5 tons of food this time around.
Coombs said a kickoff party held Thursday garnered more than 1,000 pounds of food in advance. And he reiterated that rain or shine, the volunteers will stand out at the fork in bright orange shirts, ready to unload cars and receive bags.
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-- Matt Stevens
Photo: An 18-foot fork is now permanently installed in Pasadena. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
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