by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
After raising money for their annual Thanksgiving dinner give-a-way, members of the YMCA at the Bank of America tower realized they gave too much money.
Every year, members of the Bank of America YMCA donate money to buy dozens of turkey dinners for needy families in downtown Jacksonville. This year organizers had originally planned to distribute 75 dinners in the Springfield community. But after tallying the donations, which came to more than $4,200, planners realized that they could afford to buy and give away at least
100 dinners.
Tuesday, five volunteers and Kesha
Ellerbee, outreach director for the Bank of
America YMCA, helped deliver many of the dinners to homes around the Springfield area. Ellerbee and the volunteers also arranged for several families to pick up their dinners, which were distributed at the John E. Ford Elementary School in Springfield.
By distributing 100 dinners, Ellerbee said this year’s charity event was the best ever. Last year, the group was only able to help 61 needy families on Thanksgiving.
“This is important because there are so many families here in this community that would go without a thanksgiving dinner if it were not for us,” said Ellerbee. “It is just so rewarding to do this.”
Ellerbee said members of the Bank of America YMCA each gave $45 for this event to happen.
“I had no idea we would
collect enough to serve 100
families,” she said. “That is
awesome.”
Shalonda Booth and her son Siraj were one of the families that received a turkey dinner from Ellerbee and her team of volunteers. Booth said this year she was able to purchase the
supplies for a Thanksgiving meal and had already done so when Ellerbee called to say she was going to deliver a dinner. Booth said she feels very blessed to have received the dinner but said she is going to give her additional dinner to another family in need.
“I don’t know who that someone is yet but someone else is also going to get a holiday
dinner,” she said. “This is a
blessing.”