Charleston Basket Brigade hopes to feed 3500 Charleston area families this Thanksgiving

It only takes $30 to feed a family of six

The Charleston Basket Brigade (CBB), a Charleston area nonprofit on a mission to serve local families in need at Thanksgiving, has set a 2015 goal to raise $105,000 to feed 3,500 Charleston Tri-County families (approximately 21,000 people) this year for Thanksgiving. With the biggest goal to date, the brigade is encouraging the Charleston community to get involved more than ever. It only costs $30 to feed a family of six and 100% of donations are utilized to purchase food. After the final homestretch of fundraising, the 8th Annual Charleston Basket Brigade effort will take place on Tuesday, November 24 at the Charleston Area Convention Center Exhibit Hall C beginning promptly at 7 am. Here community members are invited to help assemble and deliver meals to all 3,500 families need across the Charleston Tri-County area.

It only takes $30 to feed a family of six and every penny raised is utilized to purchase food. Each family receives a box of food to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal including a 10-12 lb. turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, rolls/cornbread mix, and a pumpkin pie. Inside the box is an anonymous letter that reads, “This comes to you from someone who cares about you.  All we ask is that you take care of yourself well enough to be able to do this for someone else one day.”

The CBB was founded in 2008 by close friends Pam Hartley and Michelle Scarafile. What started as a small effort feeding 75 families has grown to serve 3,500 families in its eighth year. In the past seven years, the Charleston Basket Brigade has raised a total of $429,500 and fed 14,339 families in need (approximately 86,034 people; as each meal feeds six people).

Hartley said, “We are blown away by the community’s support each and every year. Local business, organizations, churches, schools, and people as young as preschoolers to the elderly, all come together to feed our neighbors that are in need. The Charleston Basket Brigade is on a mission to not only provide these families with food, but with a joyous holiday experience that they would otherwise not have.”

“There are several volunteer opportunities for the community to get involved in. From assembling boxes and unloading food off of the trucks on November 23rd, to assembling and delivering meals on November 24th, everyone is invited to help make the effort a success,” added Scarafile.

To successfully execute the effort, the CBB partners with Carolina One Real Estate, Communities In Schools, Momentum Marketing and Harris Teeter.

After the CBB placed a $105,000 food order to Harris Teeter on Ben Sawyer Blvd. in Mount Pleasant, the store’s manager, Derek Pace, has coordinated the abundant food delivery to the Charleston Area Convention Center. “It takes a lot to manage getting food for 3,500 families to one place. We don’t know what we would have done without Derek’s help,” added Scarafile.

Momentum Marketing (Hartley’s company) provides public relations, marketing, fundraising and event coordination assistance. For the fifth year in a row, The Charleston Area Convention Center is donating a 25,000 sq. ft. Exhibit Hall space to serve as a central staging area for meal assembly and delivery on November 24.

Communities In Schools (CIS), an award winning non-profit dropout prevention organization that serves 12,000 at-risk students in 25 Charleston area schools, locates the families in need that will receive meals. CIS volunteers also map out detailed routes for volunteers to deliver meals to the selected families. Carolina One agents and staffers help lead the brigade’s fundraising effort, in addition to recruiting thousands of community volunteers that donate and volunteer to assemble and deliver meals to the families in need.

The CBB is a 501-(c)(3) nonprofit. Individual and corporate donations are tax deductible can be made online at www.CharlestonBasketBrigade.org.  All major credit cards are accepted and 100% of the donations go towards buying food.  
A full list of volunteer opportunities is available at www.CharlestonBasketBrigade.org.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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