Max Smith, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Hundreds of volunteers got together Saturday to help more than a thousand needy area families get the food they need to eat well for Thanksgiving and the weeks beyond.
The volunteers converged on Columbia Heights Educational Campus to pack boxes with turkeys, chickens, fruits and vegetables, beans, rice, stuffing, desserts and more. Other volunteers will deliver the huge boxes to families all over the D.C. area.
“We go all over. If there’s a need, we’re going to make sure it gets there,” says Project Giveback volunteer Samantha Hawkins.
It’s the group’s 17th year. It started off helping six families, now its Thanksgiving food distribution has grown to a huge event, including many families, kids, and volunteers from Howard University.
“It’s great to see everybody actually come out just to help,” says Howard student Isaiah Brown.
“It’s been a journey, but it started out with just a few people, and more people started asking ‘how can I help?’ ‘what can I do to support?’ And it’s just grown,” says Project Giveback founder Ransom Miller III.
He says it’s the reactions from the families who get the food that drives him to keep growing the program.
“One year, this one little girl — we had cereal in the box — and it just happened to be her favorite cereal. And she came out; she hugged my leg. And as big and manly as I think I am, a little tear rolled down my eye when that little girl wouldn’t let go of my leg. That makes it all worth it.”
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