85 Ballantyne families will have a Thanksgiving meal because of you! A big THANK you for your support for our holiday food drive! You are making a HUGE impact on our community! Here is a note that we have already received from one of our families:
Hello:
I would like to express my gratitude to the Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need. I thank you all for assisting my family; I am truly humbled that you all would give support to us. For that, I say thank you on behalf of myself and my children and may each and everyone of you be blessed.
Humbly, Our school counselors/social worker have been working hard to distribute the Thanksgiving support since the end of last week. Every family received multiple notes of encouragement and Thanksgiving/Fall napkins. In addition, elementary/middle school families received a $50 grocery gift card and a bag of food to make a holiday meal. High school families received a $150 grocery gift card to purchase a meal (High schoolers typically have to bring things home on the bus. We don’t want them bringing food home in front of their peers).
With Thanksgiving deliveries now complete, we are preparing for our December giving event. We will be giving similar amounts as shared above, except that it will be 2 bags of groceries instead of 1. This round of support will be delivered to the schools on December 9th.
To support these holiday food drives, we surpassed our goal and collected over $19,000 plus 210 bags of food from the community! Amazing! The extra money will roll over to spring break and summer support. So many volunteers and groups came together to make this effort happen (see below). A special shout out to Brighthouse Financial! Their employees made over 200 notes of encouragement, created 153 bags of food and gave over $4000 in grocery gift cards!!
While this specific giving event has been a huge success taking care of 85+ families for the holidays, we have a growing need for ongoing support from our food pantry. Between 5-8 families are making pantry requests each week. With this much of a growing demand, if you are able, we would very much appreciate food donations to help restock our shelves. Please go the the following Sign Up Genius to see how you can help:
www.tinyurl.com/bfsignup2022-2023 With us being in the Thanksgiving season, we want to say how thankful we are for all of your generosity and support over these past 2 1/2 years to help our neighbors in a time of need. You continue to amaze me with your generosity and support!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather
- Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need
www.linktr.ee/ballantynefamilies
