By Toni Miles
This Thanksgiving, police officers across the Coast will join forces with business leaders, workers and other members of the community to make sure those in need will receives a hot meal this holiday season.
Members of the Long Beach Police Department will be among those rolling up their sleeves, preparing and delivering meals to those in need throughout the area on Thanksgiving Day. It’s all part of the annual Gulf Coast Public Safety Feed the Needy Program, a collaboration among public safety agencies and hundreds of other volunteers who show up to package meals Thanksgiving morning at the Lyman Community Center in Gulfport, and organizers are still looking for a “few good men and women” to help package and deliver these meals on Thursday, November 28.
Those who would like to lend a hand can report to the Lyman Community Center, located at 13472 Highway 49 in Gulfport, at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving (November 28) morning. Deliveries will begin at 9 a.m.
This year marks the 35th year of the program, which has grown from feeding just a few people to an estimated 4,000 meals each year.
The deadline to sign up for a Thanksgiving meal this year has passed, but there is still time to sign up for the Christmas meal. People who would like to sign up for the Christmas meal distribution and who live in Long Beach can call the Long Beach Police Department at 228-865-1981. Those in Pass Christian can sign up by calling the Pass Christian Police Department at 228-452-3302. The public is welcome to sign up for themselves and their own families, or to sign up someone who they know is in need. Meals are limited to four per household. The meals will be delivered on Christmas morning. Volunteers are still being sought to help prepare the Christmas Day meals at the Lyman Community Center on the morning of Wednesday, December 25 (Christmas Day).
Feed the Needy is funded through donations. To make a donation to help feed the less fortunate in the area, call the D’Iberville Police Department at 228-396-4252, or mail a donation to: Gulf Coast Law Enforcement Feed the Needy, 11290 Lamey Bridge Road, D’Iberville Mississippi, 39540.
