Christmas came early to over 12,000 indigent families in Clearwater, Florida. There, an anonymous donor provided 12,500 turkeys and sides to all those turkeys to the local Salvation Army branch, generosity which let that branch then hand out a like number of feasts, replete with all the usual Thanksgiving fixings – potatoes, stuffing mix, green beans, corn and cranberry – to locals on Monday and Tuesday.
The donor’s generosity should help those families that cannot afford Thanksgiving meals thanks to inflation, a degrading economic environment, or any other issue that makes buying the supplies necessary for a Thanksgiving feast too great a burden for a family.
Bay News 9 reporter Angie Angers, reporting on the donor’s generosity and the resulting distribution to families, saying, “Its been amazing to see this huge operation of volunteers with Salvation Army bagging the fixings, pulling turkeys off the truck, and greeting every recipient with a smile. An anonymous donor gifted 12,500 turkeys (and sides) this year to local families in need @BN9.”
Watch that here:
Speaking to local news about the donor’s generosity, Maj. Ted Morris of the Salvation Army said that the anonymous donor, a woman, has made it a tradition to increase the number of turkeys purchased every year and that the number, increased by friends of the donor to make it possible, have jumped into the thousands.
Maj. Morris said, “Quite a few years ago, she drove up to our office in her Camaro with about a dozen turkeys in the trunk and said, ‘Can you use turkeys for Thanksgiving?’ We said, ‘Absolutely!’ Every year she’s tried to increase that number — coming up to 12,500 this year. So we’re just so thankful for her and her friends, and the volunteers who are coming to help distribute those turkeys for us.”
Other religious groups are stepping in this Thanksgiving to help the needy as well. For example, the Lawndale Baptist Church of Greensboro, North Carolina, continued with its tradition of celebrating Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand by feeding a thousand families for Thanksgiving.
Announcing the program on its Facebook page, the church said, “Feeding the 5000 || November 21, 6:30 am. Just as Jesus fed the hungry as He was ministering to them, we are reaching out to the hungry in our community. This is a drive through only event. We will give a turkey to the first 1,000 families (limit 1 per family). Each bag will include a frozen turkey, a $25 Food Lion gift card for food, and literature. Please do not arrive before 6:00 am. Lawndale members interested in serving contact Jimmy Jackson.”
Speaking about the event, the church’s pastor said, “We do this event each year in the name of Christ and for His glory. We also want our community to know that we, Lawndale Baptist, are there for them and love them as well. If our community sees us modeling Christ, then Christ gets all the glory.” He also said, “The biggest thing we want our community to take away from this event is [that] Jesus loves them more than they could ever fathom.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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