(Posted Oct. 29, 2015)
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and volunteers at HELP House are making plans to provide enough food to feed more than 1,000 individuals in one day.
HELP House Director Dee Heilman is asking individuals, businesses, churches and organizations to support outreach in a different way this year.
“Because of the significant increase in the number of individuals and families that we have served with food, clothing, emergency funding, and prayer since this time last year, we know that the number of requests for Thanksgiving meals this year will be significant,” she said.
“In addition, the Mid Ohio Food Bank, our organization’s main source of frozen meat and canned food has not had the quantity or variety of meat available for purchase that they usually have at this point in the year. This has led to a shortage of meat for our Thanksgiving outreach.”
She explained that last year’s event provided a complete Thanksgiving meal to more than 300 families, a significant increase from the number of families served the previous year. During last year’s annual outreach, volunteers distributed more than 6,000 Thanksgiving food items to area families and individuals in need.
“For many years we asked community members to donate food items for the Thanksgiving outreach, however, this year we are hoping that donors will make monetary donations so that we can purchase a large quantity of turkeys, turkey breasts, and hams from local retailers at a reduced cost,” said Heilman.
She added that traditional Thanks-giving food items will also be available for clients to add to their holiday meal. Area businesses, as well as youth and school groups, are asked to consider providing some meat and Thanksgiving food items for the outreach.
Heilman explained that while the organization’s most critical need is money to purchase meat, HELP House is also accepting frozen turkey breasts, turkeys, hams, and canned goods.
Monetary contributions should be mailed by Nov. 16 to: HELP House Community Outreach Center, 122 E. Center St., London. Canned goods, non-perishable food items, donated meat and other refrigerated or frozen items should be delivered to HELP House by Nov. 18.
Volunteers are needed from 8:30 a.m. to noon Nov. 21 (or any portion of that time slot) to manage food stations, restock food, and do a variety of other tasks. Volunteers also are needed from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 18-19 to set up the food stations and organize the food.
For details, call (740) 852-1980 or e-mail HELPHouse@hotmail.com, or contact Chandra Kelly at (614) 202-1741 or chandrakelly@columbus.rr.com.
