Good Shepherd Center hands out Thanksgiving food to hundreds of families

WILMINGTON (WWAY) — Thanksgiving is one week from tomorrow, which means it is time to start getting the pantry stocked with everything you will need to prepare your holiday meal.

Today, a local organization helped hundreds of families prepare for theirs.

The Good Shepherd Center handed out one-thousand bags full of Thanksgiving dinner essentials, along with a twenty-five dollar Butterball turkey voucher.

It took just forty-five minutes for all one-thousand bags to be handed out, as hundreds of people lined up hoping to get one.

Good Shepherd’s Director of Community Engagement Liz Carbone said it was great seeing so many people come out, but it also shows just how many people are struggling.

“It really just demonstrate that there are lots of housed people in our community that are struggling with the cost of living going up, the cost of rent, the cost of their utilities, the cost of groceries and other essentials,” she explained. “They’re unfortunately struggling more and more to be able to afford the basic necessities.”

As part of the event, Innovative Financial Group donated ten-thousand dollars worth of food to make the bags.