CHARLESTON, W.Va. – It can be a tough time of year for those who don’t have enough food to put on the table. However, thanks to the Union Mission in Charleston and Feed the Children, 400 families will have plenty to eat this evening.
Feed the Children arrived at the Union Mission Thursday with a truck filled with food and personal items to hand out to preselected families.
Those people were able to drive through the Mission parking lot Thursday, pop their trunk and have three boxes of supplies loaded in.
Tammy Scott, the director of development for the Union Mission, said the supplies arrived at a very good time.
“Feed the Children contacts us whenever they have a trailer coming in. This is not our Thanksgiving distribution,” explained Scott. “This is in addition. It’s a good boost for the community.”
While the entire country has seen hard times since the recession hit back in 2008, Scott said the need is just as great today.
“It could be due to some of the welfare cuts that people are experiencing. It could also be with the layoffs in the coal mines. There are many, many factors. Their are a lot of people hurting,” according to Scott.
Some people who pulled in to fill up their trunks didn’t need the food. They are volunteers, picking up those boxes to deliver to families who do. Scott said people are incredibly generous all year long, but especially during the holidays.
One thing that warms her heart is to meet former food recipients who are now volunteers and donors.
“When they come to donate, they tell us, ‘We were in that line at one time.’ It’s just made a big difference,” stressed Scott.
The Mission will be handing out boxes of food twice more this holiday season. This Saturday is the Thanksgiving food pick-up. Seventy-five hundred local families are signed up to receive food that day. Then in December, closer to Christmas, many of those same families will be back to get the basics for a holiday feast that will last a family several days.