Around 5:45 PM, we arrived at church and had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with many of our church friends there.

Around 7 PM the Welcome Center chairs and tables where we had just eaten were rearranged and we participated in a "Live On Mission" event involved packing Thanksgiving baskets with turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, vegetables, and other assorted foods for some needy families.

By 8 PM the baskets had been filled with food, some church information, Thanksgiving cards written out by children, and a tract. Each box was also given a second look by a team tasked to see that all items were present, and to add additional food for large families.

At that point the boxes were delivered by volunteers. Joyce and I had a box with a name, an address, and a phone number. (Continued below the pictures)

A tasty and filling Thanksgiving Dinner


       
     
Part of the serving and cooking volunteers





   
A very well organized set up for filling Thanksgiving baskets


   
Getting ready to fill and filling food baskets






Ready to deliver

Sure enough, this was a family of five, who were staying in a motel from a national chain whose name you would recognize, but not one that I will add to this note because the facility was in rough shape, to say the least.

We linked up with the family: husband, wife, three young boys. They had been living in a trailer park on the outskirts of Tampa, and the winds of Hurricane Milton had knocked the structure off its foundation, and FEMA plus the local health authorities had declared the mobile home to be uninhabitable.

They must have been renters, because there was FEMA money provided, but the owner took off with it.

They had no one to stay with and, according to the wife, they had used up all their funds staying in various motels until FEMA came through to fund their current location. The boys were not in school because they had no way to get there because the motel was far from the school they had attended. It did appear, however, that they had now come under the attention and care of a social worker who is helping them try to put their life back together.

Our church has them now on our radar so that will also be a help.

The point of this note is to realize how blessed we all are compared to this struggling family.