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Two years ago Harmon, 36, got involved with Alliance for Children's Rights – a charity that protects the rights of abused and impoverished children throughout Los Angeles. When she learned that kids in the foster care system don't have Thanksgiving dinner, she was devastated.
"They told me that these kids don't have any [sort of] Thanksgiving and, I was like, 'That's unacceptable. We've got to do something for them,' " she told PEOPLE at the pre-Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend.
With Harmon spearheading the cause for the needy kids, "The Kitchen Academy," a Hollywood-based culinary school, came on board and a dinner for about 35 emancipated foster youth was underway.
Cooking up Some Memories
Harmon, a Dallas native, was raised doing the holidays "big" and she still does her own cooking for husband Jason Seahorn and their two young daughters – Finley Faith, 4, and Avery Grace, 2. "We do Broccoli cheese casserole, [my cousin's grandmother-in-law] Meema's stuffin', a green bean salad," recited Harmon wistfully, "There's corn casserole, there's sweet potatoes, there's a gigantic turkey."She added: "It's always a big thing, because we use our formal china. The girls try and help, but I kind of sweat it a little bit when they're walking around with my china. They think that the place mats are used to skate around on, so they slide on the floor and stuff."
Energetic toddlers and endangered china aside, Harmon's brown eyes warm even more as she describes her favorite holiday moment. "My favorite part of Thanksgiving is that moment when everything is sitting on the table, and everybody comes in and sits down, and we all hold hands and pray, and say what we're thankful for."
"I just wanted these kids to know that they're not alone," she concluded. "At some point in their lives, will have their own family, and will have their own traditions, and that's a completely attainable goal for all of these kids."
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