The community pitched in to provide a Thanksgiving feast to 400 families — clients of the Mother of Light Center in Alexandria, said coordinator Maria Calacan-Mcglond. The day before Thanksgiving, families will receive a box of dry goods and a whole chicken and about half of the clients also will receive a box of produce.
Volunteer Seeta Ramsamooj, a parishioner of St. Louis Church in Alexandria, made 400 containers of homemade mac and cheese for the meal. A local restaurant donated vegetables for 800 people. St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria donated 400 bags of salad and juice. The school’s buses and the Mother of Light van will deliver the food.
“It’s definitely a community event. My mom is retired so she’s at home making calls to the families to let them know when the food is coming,” said Calacan-Mcglond. The center provided 30 pounds of rice and four gallons of beans to some of their clients who in turn prepared them for other families for Thanksgiving.
Though a pie shortage was challenging, they found a way to get what they needed, said Calacan-Mcglond. “A young lady, she’s a teacher but she has a side business where she makes Salvadoran (pineapple) pies, she made us 2,000 and donated 200 for us,” she said. “We’ve had little miracles.”
