The Long Beach LGBTQ Center, photographed on July 6, is located on Fourth Street. Photo: Richard Grant/Q Voice News.
Long Beach LGBTQ Center volunteers will be giving out free, prepared, ready to heat meals on Christmas Day.
The prepared meals will include tomato bisque soup, Shepherd’s pie, the traditional Irish potato pancake boxty, and bread pudding. A vegan option will be available.
The meals will be prepared and donated by the Long Beach Irish pub and restaurant The Auld Dubliner.
“The Center has seen an increased demand for foods and support especially from seniors due to Covid-19,” Andrew Dorado, interim executive director of the Long Beach LGBTQ Center, said in a statement.
A contactless pickup will take place at The Center, 2017 E. Fourth St., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or while supplies last.
The Center has distributed holiday meals for years and hosted an in-person Christmas Day get together.
For Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, The Center has delivered holiday meals, poinsettias, and goodie bags to individual seniors in the Long Beach area as well as to residents of Glen Park Healthy Living, an assisted living facility downtown.
The LGBTQ Center Long Beach supports more than 25,000 people a year through various programs including youth services, senior services, counseling, legal services, domestic violence support, transgender health programs, HIV and STI testing, and more than 20 weekly support groups.
Many of these services are offered online during the pandemic. Drive up and walk-up HIV-STI testing is available by appointment Monday through Friday in a private area of the parking lot behind The Center.
