Basket Brigade on the way

A FAMILY HAS just moved into the area. They don’t know anyone. They’re separated from the rest of their family and friends by miles. Worse yet, the family provider has just lost their job.

Thanksgiving is approaching. The family isn’t planning to celebrate with a turkey dinner this year. Maybe next year things will be better.

Then the doorbell rings. The mother opens the door. No one is there. Puzzled, just as she’s about to shut the door, she sees something on the doorstep. It’s a turkey dinner. Complete. And just enough for her family.

Who put it there? Who would do something like this?

Many people in this area experience this the day before Thanksgiving. And it happens because somebody cares.

The Basket Brigade is a group of volunteers who begin collecting donations of food from the community a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Then they set up a space two nights before the feast and arrange the food according to how many people are in the family. They get addresses on tips from family friends or co-workers. They don’t know who the people are, why they are having a hard time or how they got there.

All they care about is making someone’s holiday special, just from the simple act of reaching outside their own situation to touch someone else.

You never know, you just might need a helping hand some day.