ANAHEIM, Calif. — A couple of years ago while volunteering at the annual We Give Thanks dinner for the needy at Honda Center, Anaheim Family YMCA CEO Brent Finlay said he was struck by a request from a girl waiting in line for food.
“I was on the mashed potato serving line and this little girl comes up to me — maybe 6 or 7 years old — with a white T-shirt, dirty shoes on backwards with no laces and I give her a scoop,” Finlay said. “She said, ‘Hey, sir, can I have more? I haven’t eaten in a while.’ I had tears streaming down my face.”
And when the annual feast had to be canceled last year after a nearly four-decade tradition, Finlay said in January he got the idea to keep it going with the YMCA…