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Thanksgiving Day Dinner: “Thankful Hearts Lend a Helping Hand”

Thanksgiving is a time of year when we slow down just a little more than usual in order to count our blessings and give thanks for all of the wonderful things in our life, and that’s just what the BBU Dream Ranch Youth Board and Children’s Advisory Board decided to do this Thanksgiving.

After learning that there were many families in our community who are unable to afford a delicious Thanksgiving Day dinner, they eagerly began devising a two-part outreach mission plan that was sure to not only make a difference in their community, but also, express how thankful they were for their daily meals.

Part one of their outreach mission plan was to help provide as many needed holiday canned food items as possible to Mission Arlington’s food pantry. The second part of their outreach mission plan included forming a partnership between our volunteers and Mission Arlington’s volunteers. Their goal was to ensure that Mission Arlington had as many volunteers as possible to help fill holiday meal boxes for the less fortunate families in our community. It was very evident, that an attitude of gratitude had definitely filled the air on this Thanksgiving holiday, and that everyone’s heart was focused on helping.

Upon arriving, our youth mentor StarGuides partnered with our younger Give-E-teers to deliver their canned food donations. Everyone, even our littlest Give-E-teers, were lovingly greeted and thanked by Tillie Burgin, director and founder of Mission Arlington, as well as several of her dedicated staff, for the canned food donations that our BBU Dream Ranch youth collected for their holiday food pantry.

Within minutes, the positive feeling of teamwork and the desire to make a difference and help others filled the air, as our volunteers eagerly started to sort and fill as many holiday meal boxes as possible. Each box of food that the BBU Dream Ranch youth volunteers helped fill was guaranteed to feed a family of four a hot delicious Thanksgiving Day dinner. By the end of their outreach mission, everyone realized how we should always be thankful for the blessing of a hot meal, for there are families within every community that struggle on a daily bases to feed their families. Being able to help Mission Arlington prepare their holiday food boxes definitely helped remind our youth and volunteers to count their blessings. We dearly thank Mrs. Tillie Burgin for empowering our youth to make a difference.

Before leaving Mission Arlington and returning to the BBU Dream Ranch office, our youth, children, volunteers and staff also assisted with sorting books and donated items in order to make this holiday even more special! Their motto for the day was, “Thankful hearts, really do lend a helping hand”.