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Thanksgiving for Thousands goes on as planned

Smaller numbers of volunteers pack 10,000 food boxes for needy families in the region
AmeriCorps volunteers staff one of the pickup locations Nov. 23 at Crossroad Community Church near Georgetown. Long lines of vehicles waited to be loaded with boxes to take back to their communities, soup kitchens and organizations for distribution to 10,000 people in Mountaire Farms’ Thanksgiving for Thousands project. RON MACARTHUR PHOTOS
Ron MacArthur
November 23, 2020

Story Location:
Hosier Road
Selbyville, DE
United States

The 26th annual Mountaire Farms Thanksgiving for Thousands food donation project went on as planned, even with restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditionally, hundreds of volunteers gather in a large warehouse at Mountaire’s Selbyville processing plant to pack the boxes in about a half-day. Not in 2020. Teams of 35 volunteers, with Mountaire employees, gathered in shifts working 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 19 and 20 in a tent across from the warehouse.

“These groups of fewer people are really having to work a lot harder,” said Catherine Bassett, director of communications.

Even so, this year 10,000 boxes were packed at the Selbyville location to be distributed Nov. 23 to families in need throughout the region. Another 10,000 boxes were packed at two sites in North Carolina. Each box contained a Mountaire roaster chicken, corn, green beans, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and brownie mix.

 

 

 

It’s non stop action as volunteers are busy packing food boxes under a large tent at Selbyville’s Mountaire Farms during the Thanksgiving for Thousands food project.
Thanksgiving for Thousands volunteers prepare food boxes to be loaded in waiting vehicles and trailers.
Mountaire Farms President Phillip Plylar gets involved in the project by stacking finished food boxes.
Sen. Dave Wilson, R-Bridgeville, volunteers every year to pack food boxes.
Volunteers in festive red T-shirts are ready to add brownie mixes to the food boxes.
Greg Porter of American Legion Post 6 in Seaford keeps boxes moving along the packing line.
Crates of canned goods and food are ready to go under the packing tent while prepared boxes are ready to load in a refrigerated trailer.
Although it may look like a lot of volunteers, the numbers this year were reduced as they worked in shifts over two days.
A Mountaire Farms employee takes a stack of boxes from a supply of thousands to be packed with food for distribution to needy families.
Mountaire roasters are added to the food boxes just before they are loaded into vehicles for distribution throughout the region.
Volunteers are in the process of loading 40 boxes into a trailer.
Moving food boxes from Mountaire trailers to pickup spots in the Crossroad Community Church parking lot is an ongoing process.

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