DETROIT – No family in Detroit should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.
To help ease that burden, local organizations and volunteers are making sure families have food on the table this Thanksgiving by distributing thousands of turkeys and side dishes.
The effort, organized by a coalition of community groups and supported by partners including Walmart and the Sound Mind Sound Body Foundation, drew about 200 volunteers -- providing groceries and hot meals to residents.
“I’m just thankful that God gave me a purpose and a calling in my life and he surrounded me by the people that can help me reach that,” said Semaj J. Morgan, a wide receiver for the Michigan Wolverines. “Whatever we can do to help people and do God’s work, man I know it makes me feel good, my parents, and everyone else at my organization.”
Giving back is central to Morgan’s foundation, his mother, Erika Morgan, said.
“What’s the biggest thing to me as a mother is to see him give back, and have a heart of God giving back to his community,” she said.
Curtis Blackwell, president and co-founder of the Sound Mind Sound Body Foundation, said the distribution was held in a neighborhood hit hard by food insecurity.
“So many times you have these giveaways all around the outskirts of the community but we’re right here at ground zero, on Morang and Beaconsfield where there is a high level of food insecurity,” he said.
Organizers also served hot meals.
Semaj Morgan’s father said, “We have fried chicken, we got spaghetti, we have rice, we have barbecue chicken.”
Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris joined volunteers on the assembly line, and many of those helping were young people from the community.
“It’s a blessing to be a blessing and it’s just so awesome,” volunteer Natasha Gibson said.
Volunteers said the smiles on recipients’ faces keep them coming back -- calling the event a tradition they hope to continue for years to come.