Prepare “Super Snack Bags”

Set-up a Big Give-style assembly line in your own home and prepare brown paper bags full of healthy and hearty snacks for our neighbors who are homeless.

Drop these items off at the Karsh Center on Tuesday, 11/24, between 3:00pm – 5:00pm (sign-up required so we know you’re coming).

Click here to see what goes into a “super snack bag.”

No-Sew Blankets

Take on this favorite annual Big Give activity right from your own living room!

Register to pick up a no-sew blanket making kit from the Karsh Center while supplies last. Drive-through blanket kit pick-up will take place at the Karsh Center on Tuesday, 11/17, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm, drop-off completed blankets on Tuesday, 11/24, from 3:00pm – 5:00pm. 

Click here for more instructions about how to make a no-sew blanket.

You are also welcome to purchase your own no-sew blanket making kit online at amazon.com* or yourfleece.com. If you are going to make and donate a blanket using your own materials, let us know you’re coming to drop-off by signing up here!

*Don’t forget to select “The Karsh Family Social Service Center, Inc” as your AmazonSmile organization of choice!

Thanksgiving Card-Making:

Feeling crafty this year? Help us add good wishes to our Thanksgiving meal bags for the community by making a Thanksgiving card! Drop-off cards on Thursday, 11/19, from 4:00 pm – 5:30pm and they will be included in our Thanksgiving meal bags! Register for drop off below so we know you’re coming.

Donate Blood

Each pint of donated can save up to three lives! What better gift to give this holiday season. Interested blood donors can sign up directly with Cedars-Sinai Blood Donor Services here for an appointment on-site at Cedars-Sinai. 

Daily “Dose of Resilience” Tools

Join us on the Karsh Center’s Facebook each morning at 8:00am for a short session led by Karsh Center intern and MSW student, Julia Hernandez Nierenberg, focused on mental health tools and practices to cultivate resilience during these challenging times. These sessions are designed for all members of the Karsh Center community. 

Thanksgiving Bag Recipe Demonstration

Join FEAST to explore our Thanksgiving meal bag and watch a recipe demonstration for creative ways to use the items we’ll distribute. A Karsh Center Collaborator, FEAST’s mission is to promote health and wellness in communities through the power of healthy foods and human connection. This includes hosting cohorts of Karsh Center clients for their 16-week group program.

Click here to join us at the Karsh Center Facebook page on Friday, 11/20, at 12:00pm for the Thanksgiving bag food demonstration!

Give Thanks with Operation Gratitude

Show Us Your Big Give

Have a Big Give memory or activity you can’t stop thinking about this week? Help us bring the Big Give community to life by recording a vidhug video here telling us what the Big Give means to you, or showing us your at-home Big Give Week projects!  

It is only with the support of dedicated volunteers that we will be able to prepare 1,500 Thanksgiving meal bags to our community, feeding 6,000 people! It will take an amazing group of volunteers to help prepare the bags, move the turkeys and pies, load up vehicles, pack hygiene kits, and of course, hand off the Big Give bags to the members of our community who will turn it into their Thanksgiving meal.

For safety reasons, this year’s on-site volunteer activities are highly limited and registration is required. This year we are unable to host any groups for activities, and individuals will only be permitted to sign up themselves and the members of their own household. Volunteers/volunteer households are permitted to sign up for a maximum of one on-site shift, and age restrictions will apply to different on-site volunteer roles. Please read all instructions in the registration portal before beginning registration.

Click here for a video about how to use our registration portal & sign-up. 

–  COVID-19 On-Site Safety Protocols –

All on-site activities will be conducted according to strict on-site COVID-19 safety protocols, including a requirement to wear a mask while on-site; a limited number of individuals on-site per volunteer shift; wellness screenings prior to arriving and upon arriving at-site; and maintaining adequate physical distance from others while on-site as a volunteer or picking up a bag. More information regarding the health and safety protocols can be found at  https://www.wbtla.org/coronavirus-safety-updates.