​​​​​​Thousands of people in need have been provided with holiday meals every Thanksgiving for the past 25 years due to the generosity of many caring volunteers at Boys Town South Florida’s Basket Brigade.

This year, more than 100 volunteers gathered on Saturday, November 19, 2016 at Boys Town South Florida’s campus in preparation for the 25th annual Basket Brigade. More than 20,000 pounds of food was packed into baskets throughout the duration of the event.

The Basket Brigade is an annual food drive held by Boys Town South Florida to support families in need within the community. Every year, thousands of families in Palm Beach and Broward Counties are not able to afford the ingredients needed in order to prepare a Thanksgiving meal. Boys Town believes that by helping children and healing families, memories created during the holidays are also created in the kitchen where children and parents come together to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.

This event provides individuals with a basket containing a full holiday meal to enjoy with their family. The contents of the basket include: a large turkey, five pounds of potatoes, dinner rolls for the whole family, two cans of vegetables, a box of stuffing, and one can of cranberry sauce, one box of Jell-O and dessert.

Boys Town South Florida’s annual Basket Brigade is funded by both corporate sponsors and by volunteers who raise money. Volunteers are broken up into teams of 10, but all volunteers raise money individually through donations to add to the fund to purchase food for the families.

Every penny is used to help provide families in need with a Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to the help of the numerous volunteers who spent their Saturday filling baskets for people within their community, Boys Town South Florida was able to serve 310 families, an increase from the 250 families served last year.

Boys Town South Florida extends a thank you to sponsors and volunteers who helped make the 25th annual Basket Brigade a success!