A friend from Church started BBQing a couple of years ago and entering competitions. He has a huge smoker that he uses to do this. Last year he got the idea to smoke as many turkeys as he could for needy families in the area. He did 40, which isn't bad for a first year. He was able to get BiLo to help out with the groceries and turkeys so each family would get a Thanksgiving meal.
He had volunteers deliver them to the families. One of the houses had a teenage boy answer the door and when they gave him the groceries he was so grateful. He told the delivery people he didn't know what he was going to eat from Wednesday until next Monday because he was on school assisted meals and they had no food in the house.
This year my friend had a goal of 200 turkeys and meals for families. He asked people to adopt a turkey for $20. That $20 would pay for the turkey and the sides. He is doing 286!! He has 7 cookers helping cook and about 50 volunteers around the clock, helping to prep, cook and deliver. Again our local BiLo helped out with the turkeys and the fixings and our local Starbucks has donated a 1/2 pound of coffee to each family and coffee for the volunteers. One of the local Chick-fil-a's is bringing lunch over for the volunteers.
People often wonder what one person can do to make a difference, this is one thing. He started small and shared his vision with friends who also got on board and helped out. Next year he is planning to do it again but BIGGER!
