We await Thanksgiving every year with so much joy and excitement. To many Thanksgiving marks the day that the Holiday Season begins. After a year of work, house chores, school projects, appointments and overall hecticness, on Thanksgiving we can slow down, relax, be with our families and eat our weight in food. However, not everyone is lucky enough to enjoy the excitement of the holidays. For homeless families it's a time where it is cold, dark, and silent outside. They have to seek shelter, find a good coat and be on the quest for hot meal. Fortunately, while we are carving our turkey, there are nonprofits working double time providing homeless families with what they need so they too can enjoy their holidays. These nonprofits are gearing up for Thanksgiving to give homeless families something to smile about these holidays.
Mary's Place
Has implemented food recovery programs that provide nearly 300,000 meals a year across all of their shelter locations. Nightly pickups at their food partner locations enable them to offer families a variety of fresh, ready-made foods. Mary’s Place will accept, verify, sort, and deliver almost one million pounds of donated food this year. They share about a quarter of that recovered food with their partners in the community, food banks and other nonprofits. They provide over 1,000 meals a day to their guests, including breakfast, lunch, and a hot dinner.
To support Mary's Place click here.
Move for Hunger
Fighting hunger, one move at a time. More than 42 million Americans face hunger every day including 1 in 6 children. By providing people with the opportunity to donate their food when they move, they believe they can eliminate food waste during the relocation process. Why is that important? Because 33 million Americans move every single year. If they recovered just 1 pound of food from each of them, they will be able to provide 27.5 million meals to people all across the country. Food is a fundamental human right. They believe that everyone should have access to enough nutritious food to support a happy healthy life. People who are food insecure are more likely struggle in school and to be in poor health.
To learn more where to help click here.
Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle
One of the oldest nonprofits in Seattle, for more than 100 years, St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle has provided aid to more than 100,000 people in Seattle. Their Georgetown Food Bank has served meals to over 46,000 families in the Seattle area. They continue their work by providing food to families every week. Their Georgetown Food Bank is located at 5972 Fourth Avenue South in Seattle and is open on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday every week from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They also have a special FACES program (Food, Assistance, Compassion & Emergency Services) every Friday that serves families experiencing homelessness.
To support the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle click here.
Puerto Rico Rise Up
Is currently running a program "Alimentos Para Nuestra Gente" ("Food For Our People"). During this time of social vulnerability, it is more important than ever to fortify the relationships they serve to bring relief to the people of Puerto Rico. This initiative allows them to boost the local economy by bringing fresh, healthy and high quality food harvested by Puerto Rican farmers. This program brings food relief from the farm to the families' tables in times of economic insecurity. In collaboration with Caribbean Food Produce, they have been working and empowering 71 community leaders in 30 municipalities around the island. Together they have distributed 89,415 food boxes supporting approximately 323,682 people around the island.
To support Puerto Rico Rise Up click here.
The Good Karma Los Angeles
They are building a mobile food delivery service focusing on delivering hot meals, water, care kits, and other necessities to one of L.A.'s most vulnerable populations. They served 28k meals in 2020-2021 and installed a community fridge at 5th Street & San Pedro in Los Angeles to help homeless people have access to fresh food and cold waters.
To learn more where to help The Good Karma click here.
