We are very good at giving thanks at our Thanksgiving dinners, but this year, with the pandemic, faltering businesses, anxiety about how to pay the rent or mortgage and put food on that table, the Gazette would like to urge everyone in the Wake Forest community who can to give generously to their neighbors.
There are national and local charities and charitable drives, but this year, please make it local dollars for local people. Remember, hunger still stalks through Wake Forest and North Carolina.
Facts About Hunger in North Carolina
According to NC Assoc. of Feeding America Food Banks (ncfoodbanks.org)
** NC is in the TOP 10 for the highest percentage of HUNGRY citizens.
** 1 in 4 children in NC are “food insecure” or hungry.
** The average food assistance (Food Stamps) is $4.40 per person per day – so a family of 4 gets $123 a week and a single person gets $31 a week.
** 81% of NC households receiving food stamps don’t know where or when their next meal will come from.
** 22% of NC citizens on food stamps have at least one family member who has served in the military.
** 3 of 4 teachers in Wake County report that they have hungry children in their classroom at least weekly.
** 36% of NC food pantries have been forced to close at some point due to lack of food.
Tri-Area Ministry where an all-volunteer staff provides food to local families. In September that meant 931 families, more than 2,700 men, women and children received staple foods as well as produce from local community gardens, gleaning efforts and large-scale events like the sweet potato dump.
You can give staple food as well as personal hygiene items either in person or through the ministry’s Amazon wish list. You can also donate money; every dollar donated translates to $10 worth of food from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. You can give items like diapers because many of the families have babies and young children.
The ministry has many partners like Panera Bread, Aldi, Sheetz, Lowes Food and Food Lion and even grant partners, Christian Brothers Automotive and Publix Super Markets Charities. And they benefit from food drives like the one underway at Leith Toyota, but the need continues to grow this year.
Tri-Area Ministry is at 149 East Holding Avenue in Wake Forest. It is open for food pickup from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday as well as the second and third Saturdays of each month. The telephone is 919-556-7144, the email is INFO@triareaministry.com, and the web page with all sorts of information is at https://triareaministry.com. The easiest way to donate money is on the web page.
Wake Forest Police Department 14th annual Turkey Drive ended Saturday and the turkeys were distributed to area families as follows. Tri-Area Ministry at 149 East Holding Avenue distributed turkeys to area families while they lasted on Monday, Nov. 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., while Hope House at 334 North Allen Road planned to give away turkeys on Tuesday, Nov. 24, from noon to 3 p.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 25, from noon to 2 p.m. However, organizers say it is unlikely any turkeys will remain available for Wednesday’s giveaway. The turkeys will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and there is a limit of one turkey per family.
Det. M. Sattler, who began the first Turkey Drive and continues to organize it every year, said the donations to purchase turkeys this year outstripped any of the earlier years. He and everyone in the Wake Forest Police Department thank all the people who contributed.
Sadly, the police department’s turkey provider could only provide 600 turkeys. They were given away along with 500 bags of groceries. The remaining funds will be used to purchase turkeys next year.
Growing children and cold adults need coats
Shop with a Cop is accepting donations for its 22nd annual gifts and coats program. To contribute online with PayPal go to “wakeforestnc.gov” and search for “shop with a cop.” Checks and cash are of course accepted and can be delivered or mailed to the Wake Forest Police Department at 225 South Taylor Street.
On Tuesday, Dec. 15, about 30 area children will be paired with police officer partners who will all visit Walmart with about $175 to spend on items the children choose, often gifts for their families. Each child will receive a winter coat they choose.
For more information, call or email Lt. B. Mote at 919-554-6150 or bmote@wakeforestnc.gov.
Share the Warmth: Children’s Coat Giveaway will be held Saturday, Dec. 5, from 12 to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of Olive Branch Baptist Church at 326 East Juniper Avenue. It is a drive-through event and face masks are required. The drive will serve ages 2 through 14 with coats.
It is sponsored by Shynese Hockaday, the NECC (Northeast Community Coalition) and Olive Branch Baptist Church. To donate coats or money or become a sponsor, call Hockaday at 919-825-6328 or email at Shynese.hockaday@gmail.com.
The Giving Fence on South Franklin Street in front of the Wake Electric building provides free coats, sweaters, hoodies, pullovers, hats, scarves, gloves and blankets for men, women and children. The people at Wake Electric make sure donations are clean before putting them on the fence and they monitor the fence to make sure clothes do not get on the ground.
To donate, you can put your clean clothes on the hangers on the fence and hang them up, you can walk into the lobby of the building and put them in the donation box there, or if you drive or walk up to the back of the building there is also a donation box just inside the back door. You can also donate at Wake Electric in Youngsville, but there you have to use the buzzer to get into the building to put your clothes in the donation bin.
The Giving Fence just went up and it will stay up through Feb. 1. Shortly there will also be a Giving Box built by Herbie Hancock, a longtime employee. It will be filled with canned and nonperishable food, free to anyone who needs it. People are encouraged to donate to that also.
The Giving Fence was begun last year by Suzy Morgan, the chairman of the Wake Electric board of directors, who took the idea from someone in Indiana and is happy that others who have heard about it in Wake Forest are replicating it.
Morgan said that the board and employees at Wake Electric are always looking for ways to give back to the community. “It’s just a little something we can do. It has been rewarding to see how it is working.”
People sometimes come to the fence, take a coat or two and leave their old coat for someone else. Morgan said the fence right now has a lot of items for men and women but few for children. She is hoping that that will change and there will be more children’s items as Christmas nears.
“Things don’t stay on the fence long,” she said.
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