Furyk Foundation, volunteers pack 5K bags of holiday meals for at-risk children

On Thursday, Dec. 8, The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation, with support from AT&T, Feeding Northeast Florida, Conagra Bands, PepsiCo and Target, provided the food and supplies to pack more than 5,000 holiday meals for at-risk children in the greater Jacksonville area.

For the 11th year in a row, the foundation set up a volunteer experience for the community to pack bags with their families for children who are identified as food insecure in Duval and St Johns counties.

This hands-on opportunity secures a meal of canned ham, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, noodles, cornbread, corned beef, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, canned sausage, apple sauce and candy canes for children who might otherwise go hungry during the long holiday break.

With help from the sponsors of Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS presented by Circle K, The Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation has been able to increase the number of bags from 500 the first year to 5,000 in 2022.

More than 90,000 food items were distributed.

Here’s how the bags and food were divided up:

• 3,940 bags to Blessings in a Backpack students
• 385 bags to Guardian Catholic School families
• 300 bags to military families at NAS Jacksonville
• 100 bags to Family Links, Wolfson Children’s Hospital
• 100 bags to MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation children
• 36 bags to Daniel Kids families
• 30 bags to Community PedsCare families
• 20 bags to Hubbard House
• 11,000-plus food items went to stock pantries across Jacksonville for Jewish Family & Community Services and Feeding Northeast Florida
• 29 Duval, St. Johns and Clay County schools received holiday bags in the Blessings in a Backpack program
• Each bag was packed with 14 items, including: canned ham, turkey stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, pasta, chicken noodle soup, cream of mushroom, Vienna sausage, corned beef, corn muffin mix, applesauce, Aquafina bottled water and candy canes.

Individual sponsors and table sponsors helped to raise more than $20,000 to purchase additional food items for families. 

2022 Table Sponsors & Food Donors: AT&T, Conagra, Pepsi, Ring Power, Truist, TMM, The Bates Family, The Bucher Family, The Walker Family, Southern Oak Insurance, The Burdeshaw Family, Feeding Northeast Florida, The DuBow Family Foundation, Merrill Lynch – The Pajcic Group, Power Tee, Gyo Greens, Target and J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Among those who helped set up and load bags: Bolles lacrosse; Nease lacrosse; Providence Honor Society; Creekside Cheerleaders; CAA; TMM; Truist; Topgolf; Power Tee; Family Links; Wolfson Children’s Hospital; Jacksonville Public Education Fund.