Food giveaway draws crowd, blesses community at Jackson church

JACKSON, Tenn. — One local church gets in the Thanksgiving spirit.

“It is just a blessing from the Lord and we just came to get this blessing,” said attendee Len McAlister.

Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson is giving back to their community this Thanksgiving.

“This is our annual Thanksgiving food drive,” Pastor Adam Dooley said. “We started doing this during the worst of COVID and it just blessed so many people. It met a great need and we decided to continue doing that.”

The church had 800 boxes to distribute, and Pastor Dooley says each box has enough food to feed a family of six to eight people.

“We started the food drive at 10 a.m. and we had people in our parking lot at 5:30 this morning,” Pastor Dooley said. “It is a blessing to see what a need we are able to meet here.”

Len McAlister braved the lines to receive a box for her and her family, and says she is grateful for her community’s willingness to help.

“For everybody to have a meal, this is what I mean with these blessings of giving food,” McAlister said. “No one should be hungry.”

McAlister says she will take the gift she has received and continue blessing others.

“I like to cook and I like to feed others. I try to bless people by feeding them. I don’t have much but what I got, I bless them with it,” said McAlister.

Volunteer Nathaniel Dean says he enjoys that giving back can be as simple as giving out a box of food.

“We get to just give them food and love on them,” Dean said. “We tell them how much Jesus loves them, so I am happy to be here and happy to be able to show God’s love to those around us.”

Pastor Dooley says they were giving out boxes until they ran out.

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