By: Adriene Morton
Every person had a plate and every face wore a smile after the many leaders of Atlanta’s entertainment industry warmed the hearts of over 400 men at Shanti Das’ 2nd Annual “No Reservations Needed” Thanksgiving Dinner.
The event took place at the Atlanta Mission, where the lucky men were pampered and treated like royalty! They launched the festivies at around 2p.m., bringing in eight barbers from Atlanta’s top barbershops to come and lend their royal hands, providing complimentary shampoos and haircuts to the herd of men. Once all the men looked dapper in their new fresh cuts, they wrapped up at around 4p.m. and took it to the kitchen, where the special guests were blessed with a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner that included turkey, ham, stuffing, savory side dishes, and sweet desserts!
Sounds finger-lickin’ good huh? Well the night grew even better as Atlanta’s V-103 radio station hyped up the crowd and topped the night off with a live broadcast for the special guests! Speaking of special guests, we saw a number of notables come out and support the wonderful event, such as hip hop artist Young Jeezy, Atlanta City Council President Caesar C. Mitchell, New Edition’s Ronnie Devoe, Blaque girl group singer Shamari Fears-Devoe, V-103’s Big Tigger, Jean Ross, and Mo Ivory, Ryan Glover of Bounce TV, Sheri Riley of GLUE, Inc, and the list goes on!
With the help of over 50 volunteers and an amazing crew of sponsors, such as Walmart, V-103, 1380 WAOK News & Talk, AG Entertainment, and more, Shanti Das’ was able to turn a dream into a reality for hundreds of men! Shanti Das’, the creator of the annual “No Reservations Dinner” stated, “God bless and thank you from the bottom of my heart to ALL that sponsored, donated, volunteered and served for the 2nd annual “No Reservations Needed” feeding at the Atlanta Mission. I am humbled by the support and grateful to God for my friends/colleagues and gracious strangers who helped. Will leave with you a quote that I love from our awesome President of the United States of America: “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”
― Barack Obama
Providing emergency shelter, temporary shelter, recovery programming, job attainment and transitional housing for more than 950 men, women and children daily, Atlanta Mission is the city’s largest and longest-running provider of services to homeless men, warming hearts since 1938 and for many generations to come!
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