With Thanksgiving just days away, local nonprofits spent the day racing to get a holiday meal on the tables of North Texans in need, with some telling us the number of people looking for help this year is higher than ever. NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards has more from those doing what they can to help.
With Thanksgiving just days away, local nonprofits spent the day racing to get a holiday meal on the tables of North Texans in need, with some seeing more people looking for help than ever before.
In Plano, cars lined up yesterday afternoon along Spring Creek Parkway ahead of Saturday’s 16th annual Minnie’s Thanksgiving Giveaway hosted by Minnie’s Food Pantry.
For the first time, founder Cheryl Jackson said they relocated the event due to demand.
Still, she said she had no idea how many families would look for help.
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“When it hit 9 a.m., the line was about two miles back, so we asked a police officer to go to the line where it was two miles back and shut it down. And as we were working, a sergeant came and said, ‘Ms. Jackson, that line’s still about 400 cars back behind that police officer’s car.’ And I mean, our stomachs dropped,” said Jackson.
Over the next couple of hours, long after the event was set to end, volunteers kept working to load Thanksgiving meals into hundreds of trunks.
In Dallas on Saturday, state Representative Victoria Neave Criado, Pleasant Grove Unidos and Walmart had to call in extra turkeys for their distribution when the supply couldn’t keep up with the endless stream of cars.
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“We know there are some families who can’t afford or have lots of expenses, so we want to give back to our community in a big way,” said Representative Neave Criado.
It’s a need felt across the region, partly due to the end of programs meant to help buoy families through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Those safety nets are drying up,” said Jackson.
At the same time, inflation is increasing expenses.
The Department of Agriculture estimated that 17 million American households struggled to put food on the table last year.
That’s a sharp increase from the year before, and a number Jackson believes continues to rise.
“I will tell you that during this next holiday season, the next 45 days, you’re going to experience something like you’ve never seen before. Not just Minnie’s but I believe all the nonprofit organizations are suffering. And let me tell you this, the people who used to donate to Minnie’s are now the people in line. That’s what’s frightening,” she said.
And still, the work continues.
Long after packing up from serving more than 4-thousand families Saturday, volunteers carried turkeys and other necessities to two late arrivals. This was part of their continued mission to feed the community year-round, not just during the holidays.
