Donations being sought for Full Plates Project
Community Cooperative is seeking donations, so it can feed more than 3,500 families throughout Southwest Florida this season for its Full Plates Project.
Community Cooperative CEO Stefanie Ink-Edwards said the number is a little bit higher than previous years.
“I am hoping that meets the need,” she said. “There is a lot of unknowns, obviously because of Hurricane Ian. There are still so many people that are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving, but not have a functioning kitchen to cook in, or a place.”
If the need is greater, Ink-Edwards said they have a plan B to meet the needs of the Full Plates Project.
Community Cooperative is seeking food and monetary donations for the project, which provides Thanksgiving meal kits for a family of four that are unable to afford the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner. The kits will be distributed through Community Cooperative’s emergency food program.
Donations can be dropped off no later than 4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 18, at their office, 3429 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Checks made payable to Community Cooperative can be mailed to P.O. Box 2143, Fort Myers, FL 33902, or made online at www.CommunityCooperative.com.
“The biggest things that we really need is just food drives and donations to support that program in particular,” Ink-Edwards said. “It’s crazy to think we are five weeks out from the storm and only three weeks from Thanksgiving. Usually we would have started a couple of weeks ago.”
The Thanksgiving meal kits provides a full Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings and a dessert, so people do not have to spend a couple hundred dollars on the meal. Those items include such things as mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, veggies, gravy, desserts and a turkey, sometimes precooked.
“It doesn’t have to just be those requested items. Some people get a laundry basket to do paper plates, dish towels and salt and pepper shakers. Those are really great. A lot of people may not have those things anymore,” she said.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com