Light of Life volunteers boxing up thousands of Thanksgiving meals for families in need

PITTSBURGH — The Light of Life Rescue Mission partnered with FedEx and other organizations to provide a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to 8,000 people who are homeless and in need in Allegheny County.

According to Light of Life Executive Director Jerrel Gilliam, food insecurity is a major problem.

“Right now, we know that 1 in 7 people are experiencing food insecurity and so we have inflation and all these other issues that are hitting today. Food is needed now more than ever. So these meals will help people not only enjoy Thanksgiving but have meals to get through the rest of the week,” Gilliam said.

“It’s my favorite event of the year. It’s like the best way to open the Thanksgiving week because together we get to work to serve our hungry, our homeless neighbors in the community that we work and live. And it’s a wonderful blessing,” Shannon Arnold from FedEx Ground said.

The empty boxes are being filled with Turkey dinners and all the trimmings — and will feed thousands of Allegheny County’s most vulnerable who face food insecurity.

Gilliam said each box feeds four people and the meals will go to 8,000 people.

Gilliam said it’s not only the homeless that receive the food.

Local organizations have also identified people in the county who are food insecure and would otherwise not have a Thanksgiving dinner.

This is the 11th year of giving this holiday happiness.

The boxes of Thanksgiving dinners are being delivered today.

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