A line of turkeys and hams weighed down several folding tables at the Alachua County Fairgrounds on Thursday.
After months of preparation, a group of 14 volunteers with The Long Foundation, a local nonprofit that focuses on homelessness and hunger, finished preparing more than 1,000 baskets of food to be given out at noon to families in need.
Baskets were bursting at the seams with instant mashed potatoes, boxed stuffing and long grain rice. Two men debated whether a hefty turkey was 20 pounds or 25 pounds. One said lifting it was his exercise for the day.
The Long Foundation has been organizing the weeklong food drive and Thanksgiving basket giveaway for 10 years, said CEO and president Rodney Long. Food donations came from individual donors and organizations like churches, sororities and fraternities.
Thanksgiving had come a week early for 1,200 people, Long said.
“For many of them, they’ll eat it before Thanksgiving,” he said. “For many of them, this is all they will have.”
About 600 people pre-registered for basket vouchers before the event, but those who hadn’t registered were able to get a basket. This year, more than 200 volunteers participated and 188,000 pounds of food were donated, Long said.
The food drive for local food pantries began 10 years ago to bring attention to community hunger, Long said. In 2011, he started the basket drive to give food directly to families.
C. Ann Scott has been volunteering for the event for four years. She got involved through her board membership on the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida, she said.
This year, she made sure none of the canned goods were expired.
“Some people clean out their closet and just throw everything in there,” Scott said.
In the past 10 years that Long has been overseeing the event, he said there hasn’t been one type of person who takes a basket. The fundraiser aims to give back to anyone in the community from all walks of life.
“Hunger doesn’t know a color,” Long said.
Contact Hannah Beatty at hbeatty@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @hannahbeatty_
