Project Make [it] count: NPS

Providing Thanksgiving dinner to families in need with the help of the Cub Scouts

My name is Jeff Thomas, and I'm a manager in Accounting Consulting Services (ACS) in the national office. I've been at national for about 16 months and will be wrapping up my tour in Summer 2009. Then I will head back to my home office in Los Angeles. Though I work at the national office in Florham Park, New Jersey, my wife and I chose to live in New York City during my tour.

My wife and I volunteer on Friday nights as leaders for Manhattan Cub Scout Pack 527. Our theme for November is "Seeds of Kindness." To me, to make it count means doing something positive for my community that will leave a lasting impression to foster further seeds of kindness in the community. If I can be a catalyst for progress, providing mentorship to youth and aid to the community, I hope that will contribute to those individuals continuing to do something good for their community throughout their lives.

I want to be able to affect as many people as possible with the money that has been provided for this project. Being cognizant of the current state of the economy, I know it will be difficult for many people to provide dinner for their families, let alone a Thanksgiving meal. My family has a tradition of stating what we are most thankful for following Thanksgiving dinner each year. I want to give as many people as possible a reason to be thankful this time of year. While researching organizations that provide Thanksgiving dinners to those in need, I found "Feeding NYC'" which provides pre-packaged Thanksgiving dinners to less-fortunate families in New York City.

Given Feeding NYC's bulk purchasing power and sponsors, it is able to provide a family with Thanksgiving dinner for only $30. With our $450, we are able to sponsor dinner for 15 families. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we will be heading to Pier 60 at Chelsea piers to preassemble, package, and deliver these meals to the families we are sponsoring. As part of the project, the Cub Scouts in our Pack will also be making cards and crafts to include with the dinners for the 15 families that we are sponsoring to make them a little more personalized. We're starting to receive a lot of interest and support from family members and friends, so I hope by the time we get to November 25, we'll have a lot of support. More to come next week!

Scissors, crayons and glue sticks

During Week 2, my wife and I planned two activities for our Cub Scout pack to personalize the meals for the 15 families that we are sponsoring for Thanksgiving dinner. At the first activity, the Cubs made greeting cards using leaves and crayons and included messages of thanks for the families. The Cubs spent more than an hour imposing the images of leaves on the cards and writing their messages to the families. For our second activity, the Cubs made Happy Thanksgiving Table Kits to add a little fun to the dinners. The kits consisted of confetti leaves to sprinkle on the dinner table or to make mobile, place-setting cards, Thanksgiving trivia, and crafts for the kids. The Cubs cut out leaves, glued place-setting cards and Thanksgiving trivia cards, and prepared the trivia cards and crafts. After an hour of making the various parts for the kit, we assembled the 15 kits and are now ready to place the cards and kits in with the meals.

Now comes the real work! On Tuesday, November 25, we will be heading to Chelsea Piers for the final part of our project. From 5-7 a.m. we will be preassembling the Thanksgiving dinners. From 7-10 a.m. we will be assembling and packaging the meals, and then from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. we will be loading and delivering the meals to the families In addition to the 15 families that we are sponsoring, Feeding NYC has plans to feed 2,008 families this Thanksgiving. This is a massive undertaking of which we are playing a small part. It has been great for me to see the excitement that this project has generated among my family, our Cub Scouts, and their families. Many are coming to help out before school, some parents are pulling their kids out of school for the morning to help out, and the parents have all told us how excited their boys are to be making a difference. I have to say that my wife and I are just as excited. Next week we will make it count by Feeding NYC!!!

Feeding NYC

Week 3 of project Make [it] Count culminated in the packaging and delivery of Thanksgiving dinners to 2,008 families within all five boroughs of New York City. This feat was accomplished on one day, Tuesday, November 25.

We arrived at Chelsea Piers at 5 a.m. and found more volunteers than we had expected. Feeding NYC has grown slowly since its inception in 2001, feeding 40 families in the first year, increasing to 1,200 families in 2005, and to 2,008 families this year. The schedule for the day called for assembling the boxes from 5-7 a.m., packaging the dinners in the boxes from 7-10 a.m., and loading and delivery from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

However, with so many volunteers and everyone working at a frenetic pace, the boxes were assembled by 6 a.m., and the dinners packaged by 8:30 a.m. The dinners included a 12-pound turkey, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, yams, cornbread, juice, and cookies.

After a chance to catch our breath, the loading began and then the deliveries. With 2,008 meals to be delivered, we were separated into delivery teams and spent the next three hours delivering meals to families across the city. With our $450 we were able to sponsor 15 of those families, but we also assisted with the packaging and delivery of many more meals. Each team was responsible for delivering 250 meals. For the 15 families we sponsored, the Cub Scouts were able to include the kits they had made over the past two weeks.

The experience has been great. The parents of our Cub Scouts were so impressed by the activity and said that their boys had gained an invaluable experience by participating. We were able to involve other family members as well and it was great to work with all of the volunteers who showed up on delivery day.

Making such an impact for such a large number of families was a great way to start our Thanksgiving holiday and made us much more appreciative of what we have. While we didn't get to see all of the families that we delivered to, we could tell how much those we did see appreciated this act of kindness. This time of year seems to bring out a certain amount of generosity that can't be matched and it was so touching to see so many members of the community turn out to help their fellow community members in need. Together, we made it count!