Opinion: Community Connects During Shared Breakfast 

By Theresa Keegan

It was, like most mornings in Laguna Beach, beautiful. The sky’s brilliant blues were effortlessly harmonizing with the sun-dappled Pacific Ocean. At Heisler Park, people in lawn bowling whites hurried to their lanes, while just north, tucked in the hillside at Picnic Beach, Christmas music emerged. 

Rounding into the arena, people of all ages were chatting, milling about, tapping into the huge coffee urn and indulging in a generous breakfast buffet. It was a mash-up of folks. Some sporting red designer leisurewear in a nod to the holiday season, others dressed in assorted layers, sporting all the clothes they own. 

It was the first Saturday in December and time for the annual Community Christmas Breakfast. 

For over 20 years, Laguna has hosted this opportunity to feed and clothe unhoused neighbors and warm up all people’s souls during the holiday season. It was difficult to tell who enjoyed the morning more – the hosts or the guests. 

The idea was sparked back in the late 1990s when Rick Shoemaker was concluding an overseas trip with Habitat for Humanity. As 10 families moved into their newly built homes, he was so moved by their spirit, their hugs of appreciation to the volunteers, their connectedness, that when he returned to Laguna, he wanted to do something with our community’s unhoused. 

 “We needed to do something to get everyone together, “he said, “to know what the homeless are going through, to understand their plight in life.” With the resounding support of the Laguna Beach Presbyterian Church, the community breakfast was organized. 

Like all healthy things, it has evolved through the years. Now, young members of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops are involved. Numerous churches provide support and serve. 

In his offering prayer, Pastor Don Sciortino of Net-Works church in Laguna Beach summed up the day. 

“God never intended us to do life alone,” he said as people throughout the crowd nodded in agreement. “This is about receiving the Gift.” And that gift wasn’t found amid the four picnic tables that overflowed with warm jackets, heavy sweaters, new sleeping bags, socks and gloves, all waiting for the taking. 

It was found in the connection of all gathered. 

Jason, a sandy-haired young man with an impish smile, stood back, watching as other unhoused friends sorted through the offerings. He explained he didn’t want anything – he had everything he needed to survive in the hills east of town. While he recounts a past filled with some jail stints and confrontations with various monsters, real or imagined, he also embraces a huge respect for the balance found in nature. He passionately describes how the hills roll into each other and then wind down to the ocean, how the animals live in harmony. 

“Too bad we can’t be that well organized,” he lamented. “We’d all be better off.”

Musician Felisha Dunne serenaded the group with traditional carols and upbeat songs. The popular Orange County singer explained she just really likes to give back to the community, supporting the many churches and all who were there. 

“I really like that unity,” she says. 

And there’s another reason she volunteers at the community breakfast. 

“The holidays are hard – a lot of people are hurting. I can ease that through music and lift people’s spirits.”

Later in the morning, Xavier silently slunk to a table and reached in for a new pair of socks. He didn’t want to take anything else, as he’s hoping to get to Florida in January to attend college. He found himself on the streets following an accident that totaled his car, which left him unable to get to work, which left him unable to pay rent, which put him on the streets. 

“I just keep smiling,” he said, flashing an infectious grin. He cites the demons we all have, those of anger and madness, but unlike so many, he can put them away – mostly for survival, he says. “I get stopped and constantly told, ‘I’ve never seen you around here.’ Well, I hadn’t been around here because I was always in my car passing by,” he explains. “But that car is gone.” 

Everyone has a story about why we are where we are. Life-changing moments that shift our destinies – some done by us, some done to us. 

But for one Saturday morning in December, more than 100 people were experiencing a true holiday moment – enjoying breakfast, marveling at the world’s beauty and the magic that the sun shining down was warming us all, together. 

Theresa Keegan is a California-based writer who marvels at the beauty that explodes when people come together for a good cause.