Charleston, South Carolina — While individuals at home prepare Thanksgiving feasts, some Lowcountry high school students are ensuring that homebound residents are not forgotten.
More than 250 volunteers will deliver Thanksgiving dinners to over 200 homebound people on Wednesday morning, ensuring that no one in the neighborhood spends the holiday alone or without a warm meal.
Meals on Wheels of Summerville collaborated with Chef Collective and students from Ashley Ridge High School’s Foxes for Change club to prepare and distribute the Christmas feast. Meals are served starting at 10 a.m.
The volunteers will complete 21 delivery routes in Summerville, Dorchester, Charleston, and Berkeley counties. Officials stated that the total distance traveled is similar to driving from South Carolina to California and back.
Traditional Christmas dinner delivered door-to-door
Each meal consists of turkey and gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, and peach cobbler. At Chef Collective, a volunteer chef from Nicaragua assisted with the food preparation.
According to Meals on Wheels officials, churches in Summerville donated turkeys for the initiative.
“We felt like it’s important that all of our clients feel loved and cared for,” said Crystal Bovell, executive director of Meals on Wheels Summerville. “Showing up at the door with something that is more than just a processed meal that was put together with nutritional facts, maybe it’s a little extra gravy and carbohydrates, I think it kind of is that warm hug from the inside that we’re able to bring to them.”
Students stress the communal impact.
Trinity Medford, a student at Ashley Ridge High School and president of Foxes for Change, believes the volunteer effort highlights how young people can make a difference.
“I honestly think it’s going to mean a lot because I don’t think it’s every day that people my age in general go out of their way to devote their time to something a little bigger,” Medford said the audience. “Even 200 meals, 100 meals, 50… any effort counts I guess and I’m really grateful and excited to be sharing this moment with my friends.”
The meals were aimed at homebound individuals who may have medical concerns that prevent them from preparing healthy meals for themselves, as well as those caring for homebound relatives.
Bovell said the combined effort demonstrates that physical participation can be just as beneficial as cash donations over the holiday season.
“Doing something tangible and getting physically involved, you know, getting in the trenches or behind the curtain of the ministry, you really kind of see where the need is and how you can be most impactful,” she told me.
