Giving Thanksgiving to Families

For the last 3 Thanksgivings, Furnishing Families has partnered with local grocery stores to help provide meals for some of our families for the Big Day! Deborah Castlemain and I (Annabelle) spearheaded the effort this year. Teams were sent out to various grocery and store chains to pursue partnership in donating food. Trader Joe’s in Fort Worth provided a $250 value of cases of veggies, cranberry sauce, stuffing and bouquets of flowers. They’re super generous and always participate in blessing the community.

The big surprises, however, came from Walmart and Sams Club. Walmart had a deal for $39.47 that included a full family’s meal & DELIVERY BY THEM to each family’s home. The meal fed 10 people! It simply needed to be cooked at home! 

Sam’s Club also provided an 11 count of $10.00 off coupons! With this sale, 11 Turkeys cost ONLY $22–that’s $2.00 per turkey!! Deborah joyfully loaded her cart with these antibiotic-free, non-GMO turkeys. This was a generous provision we didn’t anticipate.

I was shopping at Kroger to pick up propane tanks the day before our outreach, and I observed the woman who was helping me carry 2 full propane tanks to my car. She made it look so simple. I asked her, ”How can you carry those 2 tanks at one time? Don’t you think they’re heavy?” She said, ”I’m a single Mom of 2 boys so I’m super strong!”

I asked her if she had all her Thanksgiving food for the holiday, and she said, ”Not yet,” so I invited her to come over to our warehouse and pick up everything she needed. You would have thought she won the lottery!! She was so happy!!”

SMALL IS THE NEW BIG! We fed around 15 families this year. Some families came to the warehouse to pick up their goods and “shop” for other housewares for free. Other families were blessed to have their dinners delivered for basically free of charge. It was a blast to participate at any level.

We provided a card to the families that shared the heart behind why we do this, which invited them to take the next step in their spiritual journey and pray the sinner’s prayer. We will follow up with each family and look forward to seeing what’s next.

If you want to read the newsletter this is featured in, CLICK HERE!