Local charities join together for food drive
JACKSON, Tenn. —Local charities are giving back to those in need in the Jackson community.
City Councilman Johnny Dodd, Men on the Move, and Benton Future Leaders of Tennessee hosted their first food giveaway of the new year.
“Right now people are still in need. To kick the year off, we wanted to kind of jump-start some people. And try to give them some things that they need, provide some type of assistance to help them out, because you still have a lot of people not working,” Dodd said.
Dodd says the event was supposed to start at 10 a.m. but some members of the community say they’ve been here as early as 5:30 in the morning.
“Normally it’s more than 500 so we try to just give what we can. We’ve got to share a little bit at the end to make sure everybody gets something, but normally we have enough for 500 families,” Dodd said.
The food give away was held at Liberty Tech High School and students from from all across the district came to volunteer.
“We are Vice President and President of the freshman class this year. We thought it would be good today to help other people,” said Liberty Tech freshman, Takhiah Minter.
Liberty Tech freshman, Ileea Williams says even through the cold weather today, she wanted to make a difference.
“I love giving back. It’s all worth it. It might be cold but I hope it just helps them even if it’s very little. I hope it makes a big impact on them,” Williams said.
Liberty Tech Athletic Director and Head Boy’s Basketball Coach, Aaron Woods says he wanted to help give back as well.
“This is a great cause it’s something good for Jackson, Tennessee and West Tennessee. With everything going on in the world right now we just felt like it would be great for us just to come out and give back,” Woods said.
Mt. Moriah Church pastor and founder of Benton Future Leaders of Tennessee, Ronald Benton says the giving doesn’t stop here.
“We’re not finished yet. We’re going to continue to do this all throughout the year. As long as they have a need, we’re going to try to fulfill it together,” Benton said.
Organizers say they are thankful so many high schoolers came out to volunteer and say this is a learning opportunity at such an early age.
