Dunedin Thanksgiving donations take on 'exceptional' need

DUNEDIN — The children at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church bowed their heads and gave thanks. For the pretzel sticks. For the canned salmon. For the chunky corn chowder stuffed in crumpled paper bags.

Then they got back to work.

After a few hours of packing Monday morning, more than 250 "bags of blessing" and 100 bagged Butterball turkeys were prepared for the church's annual food drive. Families who couldn't afford a Thanksgiving meal, they said, would soon have a feast.

"The need is exceptional this year," said food drive chairwoman Charlene Barsky, mentioning the 100 families who asked to pick up food today. "We asked what they were doing for Thanksgiving, and most of them said nothing. They had nothing."

The strain of dealing with a growing need — 75 families asked for help last year — was met by the strength of local volunteers. Local grocery stores donated thousands of bags, and anonymous donors filled them with potatoes, yams and tea. Children at the Apple Seeds Christian Growing Center donated nearly $500 in pocket change. Other children spent the first day of vacation stacking snack packs.

"When all the hardship came up," said church volunteer Noel Cooney, "they stood up."

A similar food drive stretched across Largo on Monday, when deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office community policing unit passed out Thanksgiving dinners to 54 families in Ridgecrest, Highpoint and French Villas.

Ontario Brown of Largo's Rainbow Village said she had no idea what she was going to do for her family's holiday meal until she found out her name had made it onto the list of families that needed help.

"I'm very grateful," she said. "Somebody gave our name (to the Sheriff's Office), and I'm still shocked."

The mother of six children ages 4 to 18 was especially pleased when she found out the dinner — which came with a turkey, stuffing, bread, green bean casserole and dessert — just needed to be reheated. "That's even better," said Brown, 35, who cares for a son with a mental disability and a daughter with asthma.

Bagged Publix meals came courtesy of Calvary Episcopal Church in Indian Rocks Beach, the Indian Rocks Beach Rotary Club, Guppy's Restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach, E&E Stakeout Grill in Belleair Bluffs and other local businesses.

Drew Harwell can be reached at dharwell@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4170. Rita Farlow can be reached at farlow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4157.