Doll’s House feeds needy families
Thanksgiving is not always an easy time for families.
The exuberant feast can often become a financial burden for lower income families. Saturday, The Doll’s House helped many of those homes have a happy holiday by donating thanksgiving dinners.
“It was amazing,” Doll’s House Co-Executive Director Stephanie Turner said.
She said it was a huge event that was very successful.
Approximately 120 people from all over Brookhaven volunteered to hand out boxes full of Thanksgiving food totaling roughly $50 per box. The group handed out over 225 boxes Saturday. Each one included a huge turkey and sides. With four to five individuals in each household, the group fed over 1,000 Brookhavenites.
Turner said the families who received meals were hand selected.
This is the second year the Doll’s House has distributed dinners.
“Last year, we were approached by a church and asked if we wanted to help them give out dinners. Between The Doll’s House, one church and one attorney’s office, we were able to distribute 65 boxes,” said Turner.
Turner said since it was so successful last year with few people involved, she knew that this year they could really make it a big event. Turner got together with Stephanie Henderson and Brittany Sones and they worked with several sponsors to make this year’s event almost quadruple the size of last year’s.
Turner said the business and families who volunteered actually went to the grocery stores and hand selected the items that would fill each box.
Sponsors included McLane Southern, Bank of Brookhaven, Wesson Baptist Church, Heucks Retreat Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Brookhaven, Bedazzled, Friendship Baptist Church, New Beginnings Baptist Church, Brookhaven Floor and Covering, Clear Branch Baptist Church and numerous other generous individuals. Sweet Tooth owners Eli and Amy Ferguson also opened their store to hold all the boxes and turkeys for the event.
Turner said she is getting text messages and calls about Thanksgiving meals. She said she is expecting next year’s event to be even bigger.