Volunteers needed to serve up hot turkey dinners on Thanksgiving

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) - Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and others emergency workers often team up to help keep our communities safe but that’s not the only time you’ll see them come together. For more than 25 years, first responders from across Harrison County have joined forces with volunteers to help feed people on Thanksgiving.

This will be the 29th year that the Feed the Needy program has been serving turkey dinners to people throughout the Coast. Feed the Needy has grown from a handful of meals nearly 30 years ago to serving up more than 4,600 meals now. For many, it's the only Thanksgiving meal they will eat.

The Feed the Needy program is a successful collaboration between public safety agencies and generous donors of time, money, and goods. The program is funded solely by donations and relies on hundreds of volunteers to help each year.

Those volunteers meet at Lyman Community Center to spend Thanksgiving Day serving food to the less fortunate and delivering meals to people in need. Once again, Feed the Needy is asking for people’s help to ensure that thousands more people will enjoy a hot turkey dinner this holiday.

If you'd like to help package and deliver meals or help serve food, you should be at the Lyman Community Center, located at 13472 Hwy. 49, Gulfport, at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Deliveries will begin at 9 a.m. Donations are also needed. Those can be mailed to Gulf Coast Law Enforcement Feed the Needy, 2220 15th St., Gulfport, MS 39501. For questions about volunteering or donations, contact Gulfport Police Department at 228-868-5703.

Any Harrison County residents who would like to sign up to have meals delivered to their homes may do so by contacting their local law enforcement agency. Those numbers are: