MORGANTOWN — When you’ve got your grandson and your granddaughter in the car, plus a whole bunch of Thanksgiving in the back hatch, you’d best keep both hands on the wheel, Lori Britton said Tuesday.
“You ready, Caleb? All secure, Madi? All right, let’s hit it.”
Today, a bunch of households full of people who don’t even know the Morgantown woman and her aforementioned progeny are sitting down to one of those dinners she delivered.
Britton was among the volunteers pointing their vehicles in the direction of Pantry Plus More in Westover on that chilly morning, 48 hours before the holiday that sanctions and celebrates overeating, as a rule.
The cars were stacked bumper-to-bumper on Rousch Drive, just like planes awaiting takeoff at Pittsburgh International Airport, there were that many.
And each was brimming with meal boxes that were doing plenty of brimming of their own.
A full-size turkey.
Mashed potatoes and gravy.
Stuffing.
Sweet potatoes.
Green beans.
Corn.
Even a home-baked pumpkin pie.
Roark Sizemore gave an appreciative chuckle through his facemask as he shook the hand of another volunteer.
“Are we gettin’ it?” the WVU student asked. “I think we’re gettin’ it.”
Sizemore first got it back at Morgantown High School, when he co-founded the nonprofit outreach group.
Forget about the overeating.
The mission is to supply families in circumstances with enough to eat — period — and never mind today’s three-helping feast in your dining room.
Pantry Plus daily provides non-perishable food, clothing and personal hygiene items, mainly to needy youngsters in the school district.
With its 35-degree temperature, Tuesday, meanwhile, carried a seasonal-enough tang to invoke memories of grandma’s kitchen, and all that implies.
“We’ve got so many caring people out here today,” he said.
“Our volunteers, our partners. Everyone should get to have a good dinner on Thanksgiving.”
More than 150 meals were set for delivery that day, Sizemore said. There were 31 routes gridded out, from the greater Westover area to the Kingwood Pike, and all points in between and in and around.
Recipients included families in quarantine to grandparents newly enlisted in the role as caregivers to their grandchildren.
People who don’t have enough money in the bank account or gas in their tank right now, he said.
“The bottom line,” Sizemore said, “is that these are some of our most at-risk, vulnerable families.”
Given Mon’s relative prosperity to the rest of the Mountain State, these are the families who don’t always get noticed, he said.
Even in this county, he said, food insecurity — the state of simply being unable to take in enough calories to sustain one’s self nutritionally — is still an issue.
According to estimates, roughly 2,700 Mon youngsters go hungry every day because of the above.
Britton said her heart was full.
“I’m thinking about all those people who will get to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner,” she said.
“I’m out here with my grandkids, and they’re seeing people do good work. Feels good to help, huh, guys?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Caleb and Madi answered in unison.
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