The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation believes that no family should go hungry, especially during the holidays and recently held their annual Hope for the Holidays event at TPC Sawgrass on Nov. 30 to help toward that cause.
Residents from across the First Coast gathered under a tent in the TPC Sawgrass parking lot and made several trips through the lines and it led to more than 6,000 bags of food being packed by the end of the night.
When the event first started in 2011 it packed 500 bags, which shows how much the event and community support continues to grow with each passing year.
Each bag was packed with several canned and bagged food items to ensure that families battling food insecurity in Duval and St. Johns Counties have a nice holiday meal.
The bags included canned ham, applesauce, corn, greens beans, rice, corn muffin mix, elbow noodles, stuffing mix, instant mashed potatoes, and candy canes to add a holiday flare to each bag.
Several groups of students from area high schools were on hand to help volunteer their time to hand out food or sort the filled bags into their designated vehicles for transport.
Christmas music blasted throughout the canopy and there were an endless number of smiles and festive cheers to go around by all those who offered up their time to help pack.
Once packed, the bags were sent out to several charity organizations across the First Coast, who then make sure they get to the families that need them the most.
Such organizations include Blessing in a Backpack programs in St. Johns, Duval and Clay Counties, Guardian Catholic School families, military families at NAS Jacksonville, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, Daniel Kids and Community PedsCare and several other services in association with Feeding Northeast Florida.
