- April 25, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
The Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties provided more than 400 local working families with enough food items to cook up a banquet for this year's Thanksgiving holiday, made possible by a match in donation by the Abram and Ray Kaplan Foundation and SouthernStone Communications.
From stuffing, mashed potatoes, canned fruit, pumpkin pie to the big turkey and everything in between, Executive Director Gloria Max said they went all out this year. She said that Thanksgiving has always been important to their organization because they have found it's the holiday families want to be together for the most — even more than Christmas.
All of the funds for each annual Thanksgiving Appeal goes toward helping families with their respective Thanksgiving feasts, as the Jewish Federation takes care of all the administrative expenses. Aside from Thanksgiving, the organization hosts this event for Christmas and Easter each year.
They distributed the supplies on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and one concern they had was the weather. Max said that with the amount of food and the numerous boxes of products they had to give out, there was no way they could have done it inside their building.
Thankfully, the weather cooperated.
“I think I prayed so much that it wouldn’t dare," Max said.
It hasn't always been this way. Five years ago, the Jewish Federation faced a monsoon-like rain which flooded the front of their building, Max said. Despite the water reaching many of the people's mid-calf, she said the 200 or so they helped stayed in line.
“In fact one woman got a call from her daughter that her house was flooding, and she ran up and she said ‘will you please save me my turkey?’ because, she said ‘that’s all I have,” Max said.
Their volunteers got a bit soaked that year, but the people were grateful for what they received. This year is no different. Max said with Hurricane Irma, a lot of families were in more need than usual. She added that they had families calling them for turkeys who they hadn't heard from in more than three years.
“I just felt like the people really needed to have this turkey,” Max said.
Without the community's support, which this year included many volunteers from Wells Fargo and the American Legion Memorial Post 267, the Jewish Federation would not be able to help as many families as they did, Max said.
That's why they put the names of all those who helped with their Thanksgiving Appeals in the bags they handed out to each family. If the families choose to, they will know who to thank for what they had to eat last Thursday.
“We wanted them to know that the community cares," Max said.
