Thanksgiving food baskets?

[catwoman]

Our newspaper has worked with a nearby elementary school for many years. At Thanksgiving we collect food for gift boxes to families of needy students at that school. (They also get a turkey, but we don't have to deal with that part.)

Just curious as to what other areas of the U.S. and world have on lists for Thanksgiving gift boxes.

Our list generally lincludes:
Cans of corn, green beans, sweet potatoes/yams
pie filling + pie pastry mix
cornbread mix
rice
pinto beans
stuffing mix
tea bags
sugar
brown sugar
flour
cranberry sauce

That's the basics.

My dad was born in Flushing, N.Y., and raised in Rhode Island. My mom is a native Texan, but my dad's Yankee roots have prevailed in our Thanksgiving & Christmas customs. We have bread dressing -- NEVER cornbread dressing. Occasionally we'll have sweet potato casserole (usually a contribution of an "outsider"), but that's very seldom. No giblet gravy (heavens, no!).

I asked co-workers what they think other businesses collect for holiday boxes for the needy & no one knew.

Would be interested in what others collect.

 

[catwoman]

FYI:

The reason I started this thread is I'm always interested in sociological/geograhic/regional differences in eating habits and how we celebrate holiday with food.

One of the things I enjoy doing when I travel is visiting grocery stores. Yep, grocery stores. Interesting to see how much shelf space is devoted to pasta products in the Northeast, to Hispanic foods in the Southwest, to Oriental foods on the West Coast, how much fresh meat space is devoted to fish in New England, to shrimp along the Gulf Coast, etc.

 

[Duffey]

I really don't know, Marsha. I always donate food, but I've never been involved with putting the baskets together.
In addition to the baskets, several organizations provide Thanksgiving dinner to anyone who wants to attend, and they send dinner to the hospital workers, police, and fireman on duty that day.

 

[Cris N]

FYI:

The reason I started this thread is I'm always interested in sociological/geograhic/regional differences in eating habits and how we celebrate holiday with food.

One of the things I enjoy doing when I travel is visiting grocery stores. Yep, grocery stores. Interesting to see how much shelf space is devoted to pasta products in the Northeast, to Hispanic foods in the Southwest, to Oriental foods on the West Coast, how much fresh meat space is devoted to fish in New England, to shrimp along the Gulf Coast, etc.

Cheese in Wisconsin - Lots of shelf space!

 

[halleyg]

Is the sweet potato casserole "outsider" usually from the South, b/c I can't imagine Thanksgiving without it! The one item I look forward to, and then still my own awesome sweet potato pecan pie for dessert! We also have mac & cheese a lot, that must be a southern thing. Your list looks good to me, though.

 

[Star54]

Corporations and individuals donate money and various canned foods to City Harvest in New York City.

 

[terryj]

Halley,sweet potato souflle is also requested at my house for Easter and Thanksgiving. No marshmellows in mine. But, lots of bad for you butter and pecans. My son who lives in Arizona called yesterday and because he can't come home for Thanksgiving he wanted my recipe for Sweet Potato souflle so he can fix it for his roommates. Collards are also requested by my husband.

We took up food donations at work for our local food pantry and what was requested most was canned meats. They seem to get plenty of pastas and soups but because of the cost of food not many people bring canned meats. Publix also has bags of food that you can buy to donate to families. They range in price from 15.00 to 50.00. I will be purchasing one of those to be donated tonight when I grocery shop.

 

[catwoman]

My newspaper has had a Christmas charity drive every year since 1912. Needy families with kids ages 4-15 who live in Tarrant County (Fort Worth Texas) can apply for clothing & shoes for school age kids.
We took our quota of applicants early this week -- much earlier than in previous years (Dec. 10). A screening committee goes through applications to make sure they meet eligibility guidelines (125% of federal poverty guidelines, # of kids attending school, county resident, etc.).

We're getting calls from people crying because they have no job, no food in the house, nothing for their kids.

 

[Marcia58]

Our church is right on the "boundary" between a Christian university and a lower socio-economic neighborhood. A couple weeks before the holidays, we place hang-tag postcards for free turkeys on all the doors in the neighborhood. They're already stamped and addressed to the church, so if someone wants a turkey, all they have to do is fill in their address and mail it back. Then, after services on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, church members and university students deliver frozen turkeys to the church's neighbors.

We do that instead of food baskets, since there are others in town handling that aspect.

Halley,

Your pie sounds luscious! Can I get you to message me the recipe, or is it a family secret?

 

[Marcia58]

Our church also puts up an Angel Tree, where church-goers can choose the info for an underprivileged child, to provide Christmas presents.

 

[Praline]

Hello,
At school we collected food from the kids and made 9 boxes for needy families. I do not know what was in the boxes. I guess whatever the kids brought in was divided among the 9 boxes.
At church, I think they did it the same way. Church gave 65 Thanksgiving food baskets ( boxes) to the needy through the St. Vincent de Paul organization. We have what they call a" Making Grocery Ministry".The people belonging to this ministry just bring non perishable food when they come to church. I try to bring spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, red beans, rice,...stuff that you can make a meal with to feed several people.