Charleston Basket Brigade provides Thanksgiving meal for underprivaleged families

Two days before Thanksgiving, the inside of the North Charleston Convention Center looked like a grocery store’s stockroom. Aisles of cardboard boxes packed neatly with Thanksgiving meal supplies were placed next to tables, while assignments were doled out to volunteers. Some were told to put one of each food item into a larger box and some were instructed to move that box over to a floating pallet. After the meals were compiled, the heavy boxes were loaded onto a truck to be delivered to less fortunate families.

Those in attendance were participating in the 11th annual Charleston Basket Brigade. Since 2008, the charity event has provided an estimated 35,000 underprivileged families with provisions to cook their own Thanksgiving dinner, including a 10 to 12 pound turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie.

“Words can’t describe the gratitude I feel,” said Basket Brigade Co-Founder Pam Hartley of Daniel Island. “What this event does is celebrate giving and gratitude and thankfulness.”

Although Tuesday’s Basket Brigade started when most people were pouring a cup of morning coffee, and with no prospect of pay for the attendants, they appeared to function like an unceasing conveyor belt.

“The community never disappoints. Our neighbors and our friends and this loving community comes out,” Hartley added.

Daniel Island resident Garth Cook has participated in the Basket Brigade as a volunteer for five years.

“We believe in the cause,” said Cook. “We know there’s a lot of need out in the community. You don’t have to go more than five minutes in any one direction to recognize the need.”

With the most recent Brigade, Cook’s daughter brought six of her friends to help out.

“I think kids have a real philanthropic heart that we don’t tap into enough,” he said. “Kids want to serve their community.”

Daniel Island Real Estate Agent Meryl Cromarty has been a participant since the beginning.

“It’s an incredible charity, how many people we get to feed every year,” said Cromarty. “It helps me, inside my soul, be so grateful for what I have and wanting to give to others.”

When asked if charitable events like the Basket Brigade are needed now, more than in the past, Cromarty said that they are always needed.

“Everybody needs to give, volunteer, help others that are less fortunate,” she stated. “We all have that responsibility when we have more.”

Those who can’t donate their time have donated in more traditional ways as well. The Daniel Island Community Fund gives to Basket Brigade every year, donating $2,000 in 2018.

“That means so much to me, living in our small little island town, that we can all do something really amazing together and share that with the whole tri-county area,” said Hartley.

The Basket Brigade co-founder started the charity in 2008, with her friend Michelle Scarafile.

“I had just moved to Charleston on to Daniel Island,” Hartley remembered. “She called me and said ‘do you want to feed families for Thanksgiving?’ The recession was really tight and kids were going hungry, so we decided to start it, and that year, we fed 75 families and every year it’s grown with the help of the community.”

With over 150,000 residents fed on Thanksgiving in the time since its founding, the Charleston Basket Brigade has a mission that Hartley wants to see live on for generations.

“Ultimately, Michelle and I built a platform for the community to give,” she observed. “That’s what the Basket Brigade is. It’s a community event by the community for the community. My hope is for hundreds of years that it can live on with different people to take it on and make sure this can happen for the community.”