MOUNT VERNON — Working Knox County families that struggle to keep hearty meals on the table are sitting down to a traditional Thanksgiving meal today, thanks to the generosity of Knox County residents.
The Knox County Chapter of the Byron Saunders Foundation donated a total of 200 meals earlier this week for families that don’t necessarily fit the description of “needy,” but which have fallen on hard times.
“We are getting the people who aren’t in the system,” said Russ McGibney, president of the local Saunders Foundation. “These are people who are having some kind of hiccup in life — a bad patch, a layoff, an accident or an illness. This is taking that one burden off of them for that one meal.”
Although membership in the foundation is small — just three actually — 36 people helped deliver 180 meals; the packages were mass assembled in about an hour. Twenty meals were distributed through Interchurch Social Services.
The packages included corn, green beans, yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, a dessert and a meat selection from Smithhisler Meats.
McGibney said the group provided meals to families in Knox County last year, but those items mostly came from the Franklin County chapter. This year, he wanted to generate local funds for the project. Fundraisers throughout the year were used for that purpose.
“We were right at $5,000 that we raised this year,” McGibney said. “With our fundraising efforts we were able to go out and purchase the food [locally] for the families in Knox County.”
Money was raised through a co-sponsorship with the Dixie Car Show in May and a Chilifest organized by MVOhio Angels.
In addition to McGibney, members are Virginia Williams, secretary and Dee Young, treasurer.
McGibney said that next year he would like to work more closely with Chamber of Commerce members to get the names of working families who could use the extra assistance at Thanksgiving.
“You do have Interchurch and The Salvation Army who are out there taking care of the people who really don’t have it. We’re just trying to get the people who slip between the cracks,” he said.
According to McGibney, about 10 years ago a group of Franklin County friends banded together to alleviate the need for Thanksgiving meals. A couple of years into the project, Byron Saunders was killed in an auto accident. Following that, the group took on his name, became classified as a nonprofit organization, and aspires to have a chapter in each of Ohio’s 88 counties.
For more information or to join the local chapter, call McGibney at 392-2233 or Williams at 397-8999.
