LETTER: Thankful for Thanksgiving donors

We are reminded every day of what a caring and giving community surrounds us, and are thankful for this gift.

I am writing to extend a tremendous thank-you on behalf of the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale and those we serve for the generous community support that we received for our Thanksgiving programs. There are so many to thank that I ask that you please accept my apologies in advance if I inadvertently leave someone off the list below.

We were able to feed everyone who came to us for help, thanks to local congregations, some of which held special food drives, and others who participated in a “Food for Thanks” program.  Several local homeowners associations collected food on our behalf. Many area schools brought in food, including collections organized by South Kingstown National Honor Society members and the Narragansett High School student government. Students from The Prout School gave us 27 Thanksgiving baskets and their National Honor Society also collected food. Our local Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops delivered a load of just more than 8,000 pounds to us at the beginning of November! Several area Girl Scout and Brownie Troops also collected food on our behalf. Our thanks to Eric Rose of Technical Industries Inc., who has donated storage space so that we can hold some of this food over until early next year when food donations traditionally drop off.

Food donations came also from many others, including shoppers who left gifts of food in our collection bins at Belmont Market, Pier Market IGA and Stop & Shop, and from anonymous donors who dropped by with food right before the holiday. Staff from both the towns of Narragansett and South Kingstown collected food at their town halls. The Wakefield Rotary Club members collected food at the Energy Expo, and the GFWC Women’s Club of South County and the MOMS Club of South County also brought in large donations. Thanks are also due to Brian Roberts of Blaze Potato Farm and his family for donating more than a ton of fresh potatoes so they could be included in each Thanksgiving basket.

Local businesses were tremendously helpful as well. Many of them have been conducting special food drives and fund-raisers for us during the past month. We would like to extend our thanks to Stop & Shop in Narragansett for helping us fill purchase orders for any items that were not donated in sufficient quantities and for ordering and storing the turkeys we bought for each household. Many area businesses and others also conducted special food drives for us. Ichiban Karate members raised $1,430 in gift cards through their “Turkey Brigade.” SmithCo Oil provided 10 complete holiday baskets. Falvey Linen, Salon by Sharon, Tara and Babcock & Helliwell conducted special holiday food drives, and we received several cases of cranberry sauce from Ocean Spray thanks to a local employee who arranged for the donation. 

We would like to extend a special thanks to all our volunteers for their help during this season.  The youth volunteers of Teen Jonnycake contributed hundreds of volunteer hours helping to sort all the food donations, to bag apples and potatoes and to distribute all the food before the holiday. Our regular food pantry volunteers put in extra hours, helping us check and sort all the donations, stocking the pantry shelves and helping clients fill their baskets. Our appreciation goes out to the volunteers from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County for their help in collecting the food from the bins located at grocery stores on our behalf. And with the help of volunteer drivers we were able to deliver Thanksgiving meals to 52 senior citizens, instead of their having to come and collect them from us.

Finally, we would like to thank all of you who send us financial donations at this time of year. They are important to us, regardless of the size, but we would like to extend a special thanks this year to all the fraternity and sorority members at the University of Rhode Island for their generous donation of $12,000 raised during their Philanthropy Week this November, and to URI President Robert L. Carothers for suggesting to these youth that they honor us with this contribution.

We depend on donor support throughout the year, but it is especially helpful now. We more than double our program needs each November and December, feeding households throughout each month as well as providing holiday dinners and a special school vacation breakfast and lunch baskets to children of clients who receive these meals at school when it is in session. Your contributions are what help make all this possible.

We wish all of your readers a peaceful and joyous holiday season.

THANKS!

Susan A. Gustaitis

Executive director

The Jonnycake Center

of Peace Dale

Via e-mail

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