In need of a meal on Thanksgiving? This Jasper County organization wants to help
Those in need of a warm meal this Thanksgiving can get one for free through the Antioch Educational Center in Jasper County on Thursday.
The organization has hired caterers to serve hundreds of low-income residents from 2 to 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
“We at the Antioch Educational Center are very proud to offer this meal to families in our region,” Ira Brooks, a Board of Directors member and treasurer for AEC, said in a news release. “The turnout and demand for last year’s event were astonishing and we have worked so hard to be able to do it again this year, especially with COVID-19 still breathing down on our region.”
The meals will be served in a drive-thru-style event at the Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Association at 3763 Bees Creek Road in Ridgeland. Drivers can either pop their truck or roll down their windows to receive their meals and drinks.
An estimated 600 to 700 people are expected to benefit from the event.
“We are glad of the support that our residents and organizations in the community are providing,” Curtis Brantley, AEC’s Board Chairman and Jasper County Council vice chairman, said in the release. “We are especially happy this year to have volunteers from Jasper County’s branch of the Department of Social Services as well as volunteers from the Morris Center. Add these kind neighbors to the many who came back from last year and you will have some of the very best people that Jasper County has to offer. This is what makes Jasper County so special.”
AEC works to help low-income families “in their transition from a state of dependency to one of self-sufficiency” through its 17 programs and services in the areas of education, job preparedness, and health and wellness.
Other community meals will be available throughout Beaufort County as well on Thanksgiving Day.
South of the Broad, the Frazier Family 3rd Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oscar Frazier Park in Bluffton and the 21st Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks on Hilton Head will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
North of the Broad in downtown Beaufort, the Parish Church of St. Helena will serve free lunches from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Hemingway’s Bistro will host its 28th “Orphans and Strays” Thanksgiving potluck style lunch.
