DOVER, Pa. — New Hope Ministries has set a goal to feed 4,500 families this Thanksgiving season, and they’re looking for help from the community to achieve it. Organizers say they’re looking for about 400 turkeys, and today is the last day to donate.
“They are in a variety of situations—they might just be behind on a couple of bills, and they’re really just struggling with meeting some of those responsibilities, and so they come to us looking for a little bit of extra help,” said Molly Helmstetter, director of development with New Hope Ministries.
New Hope Ministries is a social service agency that feeds the hungry and helps people achieve stability in their lives. They currently partner with families who are low-income or experiencing hardships to make sure they have a hot meal this season. Outside of Thanksgiving, they provide a hot meal to the homeless and unhoused residents at their nine locations.
“A Thanksgiving meal is something that everybody can really appreciate, and that might be something that a family would not do because they need to stretch their pennies as far as possible with paying some of those obligations, so these are families we’ve been partnering, working with,” said Helmstetter.
Community organizations (such as churches, businesses and civic groups) are already lined up to provide non-perishable food for the Thanksgiving dinner baskets, which are distributed to families today. Volunteers are also needed to hand out the meals to families. A list of the locations can be found here.