An FSU football player and the Boys & Girls Club distributed 100 turkeys in Tallahassees 32304 ZIP code, helping families facing food insecurity ahead of Thanksgiving.
32304 is one of the poorest ZIP codes in Florida, with 51% of residents and nearly half of all children living in poverty. The giveaway gave residents the opportunity to have a traditional Thanksgiving for families lacking transportation and access to healthy groceries. Watch the video to see how the giveaway brought the community together and the impact it had on local families. Families in the 32304 zipcode receive Thanksgiving meal help
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and many families were still missing the centerpiece to their Thanksgiving meal, a turkey.
I’m Lyric Sloan in Northwest Tallahassee, where a local football player with deep roots in the community recognized the need and stepped in to help.
“They say it takes the village,” Octavia Oglesby, a 32304 resident said.
Here in the 32304, that village came together in a community where transportation is limited and healthy food options are scarce.
FSU football player Darrell Jackson Jr and the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend came together to help provide for families for Thanksgiving.
“I come from nothing, growing up in a single parent household. So just seeing my mom struggle and the things we had to go through, and I just wanted to be a blessing to the kids,” Darrell Jackson Jr.,FSU Defensive Lineman, said
For one family living in the neighborhood, the help made a tremendous difference.
“That means a lot to a single mother of five,” Oglesby said.
For many families, this turkey drive isn’t just helpful, it’s essential to having a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
“That was a big relief, because with all the stuff that’s been going on lately, you know everybody going through the situation with their SNAPs, and everybody trying to catch up and restock up their house. There’s a lot of children out here,” Oglesby said.
And in a community that faces daily challenges. The giveaway is a reminder that small acts can make a big impact.
“Very much so because you don’t see everybody outside like this together. Most of the time only time you’ll see them outside is when something is wrong. So for it to be something positive, to bring everybody around each other, aside of their foolishness or whatever chaos they got going on in their life, that’s a blessing,” Oglesby said.
They gave away 100 free turkeys to families in the 32304, zip code, a neighborhood long identified as one of the poorest in Leon County, hoping to put a smile on families faces this Thanksgiving.
In Northwest. Tallahassee lyric, Sloan, ABC, 27
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