Taco Night & World Cup Watch Party, Arcadia Women's Clubhouse

On Friday, June 19, 2026, we hosted our own dinner for the first time.

Our first two events were built on someone else’s foundation. At Union Station Homeless Services we cooked in their kitchen and served their residents, which meant the guests were already there. Taco Night was different. We picked the venue, we recruited the guests, and we found out what it takes to fill a room ourselves.

15 volunteers showed up. We started in the kitchen at Mayfield Junior School in Pasadena at 9 AM, cooking asada, grilling pineapple, chopping onion and cilantro, and mixing aguas frescas by hand. Beans and rice came from our partner El Portal. By early afternoon everything was packed and moving to the Arcadia Women’s Clubhouse, where we set up the hall and opened the doors at 3 PM.

120 meals went out over the next four hours, our largest event yet and roughly 50 percent more than either of the first two.

Because soccer is half of why this organization exists, we put the 2026 World Cup on the projector and left it on through dinner. Brazil played Haiti at 6 PM. People ate, stayed, and watched together, which is exactly what we were hoping for. A meal that people linger over is doing more work than a meal they carry away.

The lesson we took from the night is the one we expected: hosting is harder than helping. Recruiting your own guests is a genuinely different skill from cooking for a shelter that already has residents, and it is the skill we will need for every event we run in our own neighborhood.

Read the full recap on the blog: Hosting Our Own: 120 Meals at Taco Night.