Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all we are thankful for — and that includes having a holiday dinner.
This year, Frederick Community College is helping FCC students by providing fresh produce for Thanksgiving at this year’s Holiday Food Box event.
On Nov. 17 and 18, student leadership and engagement will be giving out free produce boxes that will feed a family of four to five for at most a week. Students can sign up by QR codes and links on fliers around campus and online.
Kristi Mills, FCC‘s assistant director for the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement, as well as an organizer of this event, said there is “a concern for students, especially in need,” to get food.
Thanksgiving food boxes will only be handed out to students who have signed up. Fresh organic Brussels sprouts, carrots, potatoes, apples, acorn squash, celery, kale and pears will be distributed in these boxes.
To receive these boxes, students can go to the Center for Student Engagement from noon to 7 p.m. or from 1 to 6 p.m. in the Monroe Center. The produce was delivered from the Hungry Harvest organization, which rescues fresh fruits and vegetables that would go to waste but instead go out to people in need.
There are other programs that FCC offers for students that need food, such as the food pantry and food lockers; however, these programs don’t provide fresh food but instead hand out non-perishable items. The purpose of this event is to help students get healthier options and fresher food.
Something that Mills looks forward to when doing events like this is seeing “how appreciative students are when we do this. It always makes me feel good to help out.”
Something that student leadership and engagement does is to help out the community, especially FCC students.
Mills said “there needs to be a destigmatization around just asking for help.”
She said everyone should be willing to ask for help.
“There shouldn’t be such negativity around asking for help,” she said.
Some issue that Mills found while organizing this event was spreading the word. People should know about the aid that others are giving out and should be able to take advantage of this. If someone has issues with finding food or providing for their family they should have information and knowledge of events and organizations that are out there to help.
“If someone has an issue with transportation such as bringing a box of food on public transit, just email us and we can figure things out,” she said.
