As the holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving tomorrow, we encourage readers to support the many charitable endeavors around the area. Today’s paper mentions several places where people in need may get a free Thanksgiving meal as well as several Christmas collection drives that are working to ensure children especially have a happy holiday.
These efforts indicate the communities’ generosity but also the rising number of people in need during a tough economy.
We salute the work of people like the Arkansas Dream Center of Cabot (see story on page 6A) that delivered 21 meals and 122 frozen turkeys to residents in Beebe, Cabot, Jacksonville, Lonoke and Ward on Saturday.
Hope’s Closet, a Cabot-based charity group, distributed 375 boxes of food to area families over the weekend. Thousands will be fed thanks to them.
On Thursday, the fourth annual Cabot Community Thanksgiving Feast will be held from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Cabot Church of Christ, 500 N. Second St. Meals will be available for dine-in or takeaway. Last year, the dinner fed 500 people. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Beebe First United Methodist Church hosts a free and open-to-all Thanksgiving dinner from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Thursday. Reservations are appreciated, but not required. Call 501-882-6427 or Bill Palmisano at 501-882-9565 to RSVP. Takeout and delivery will be available in Beebe and McRae. If needed, transportation can be arranged in the Beebe area. The church is at 302 N. Main St.
Synagogue New Life Church of God in Christ is holding a free Thanksgiving dinner from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. today. The church is at 2015 N. First St. in Jacksonville. Delivery to some areas will be available for elderly and handicapped people.
The Cabot Panther Foundation contributed $4,800 to sponsor the Arkansas Rice Depot’s Food for Kids program at Central Elementary and Ward Central Elementary, which provides students in need with new backpacks filled with food for weekends. The schools were chosen for the program because they have the highest number of students on free or reduced lunch plans in the district.
The Cabot Christmas Alliance’s annual Coats for Christmas campaign is underway to make sure that kids are clothed properly. Keep that in mind as the temperature drops to a bitter 25 degrees today. They need all sizes of coats for children and adults. Drop-off boxes are at Kroger’s, Regency Cleaners, various schools and First Baptist Church of Cabot. For more information, call 501-804-1428.
Many other Christmas charity programs have already begun and appear throughout today’s paper.
While we gather with families to enjoy Thanksgiving, remember all of the community groups who are working hard to ease the burden of people struggling to make ends meet.
