'Project Giveback' provides Thanksgiving meals to more than 4,000 DC-area families
'Project Giveback' provides Thanksgiving meals to more than 4,000 DC-area families
For years, a D.C.-based non-profit has been making sure deserving families in need have a Thanksgiving meal. Project GiveBack, which is based in D.C., is now nearing three decades of service and this year it will be feeding more than 4,000 families.
WASHINGTON - For years, a D.C.-based non-profit has been making sure deserving families in need have a Thanksgiving meal.
Project GiveBack is now nearing three decades of service and this year it will be feeding more than 4,000 families.
Volunteers had a busy Saturday morning packing and delivering Thanksgiving meals to people living in underserved communities. They’re putting plates on the tables of thousands of deserving families in the D.C. region.
"We are so privileged to be able to come here and serve the community but we don’t see the other side of D.C. that has a lot of food insecurity and food deserts, so we are here to serve and really educate the kids first," said Sydney Mayfield, the Community Service Chair at Jack and Jill of America Incorporated.
The D.C. National Guard provided the location Saturday morning for hundreds of volunteers made up of friends, church members and student groups as they packed the Thanksgiving goods including turkeys, vegetables, canned goods and other holiday favorites.
The UPS Foundation, which is the main sponsor, not only turned its employees into volunteers but also took care of directly delivering the assembled food baskets to neighboring homes.
"One thing to think about is that in your own backyard, there are about 4,000 families today who will receive hot meals but the need is so much greater, but there is something that everybody can do by looking around and being aware opening your heart and giving back," said Nikki Clifton, president of the UPS Foundation.
The massive project, now in its 29th year of serving underprivileged communities, is something that started out with founder Ransom Miller III and a couple of people in a lunch room.
Miller says it was just an idea at the time to help some families but now it’s turned into a full-fledged 501C3 Nonprofit.
"We have been fortunate enough to build relationships to allow us to garner the type of the type of support to come at 5:00 in the morning and give their time. The biggest message is there is a need and we are here to fill it," Miller said.