GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's almost Thanksgiving, and two separate organizations, one based in Grand Rapids and one in Kalamazoo, are preparing to make this day worthy of a little extra thanks.
Both Demarco Wilkinson and Christina Norris are representing their communities with days of giving.
Demarco Wilkinson is the Program Director for Free Food Saturday, based in Grand Rapids. “Being able to serve and give in my own neighborhood where I grew up is near and dear to me,” Wilkinson said.
Christina Norris is the Owner of Nena's Cooper Cafe in Kalamazoo. “I’ve known what it's felt like to not have somebody, and to be able to be there for that person... it's an indescribable feeling,” Norris said.
Over the last six years, Wilkinson has run Free Food Saturday, opening the doors of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church to give out free boxes full of food. Wilkinson says he gives out more than 200 boxes each week.
“There really is no criteria. There's no registration," Wilkinson said. "You don't have to fill out a form. You can come every single Saturday with only just the need for food.”
Wilkinson explains that the boxes are currently catered to a Thanksgiving theme. “It could be turkeys or chicken, ham, lots of meat... those different items that you'd have for holiday dinner,” Wilkinson said.
Nena's Cooper Cafe is giving away lots of free Thanksgiving food, too. “The community shows us such unwavering, unconditional love; this is the least we can do to show our unconditional love back,” Norris said.
They provide a Thanksgiving meal for anyone who wouldn't otherwise have a place to go, like long-time customer Edward Kawakami.
“Instead of just sitting home and watching television, I can come here and enjoy a meal with friends,” Kawakami said.
Like Wilkinson, Norris and her husband feed over 200 people each Thanksgiving, even receiving notes from faithful customers expressing their gratitude.
“My prayer every year is to be here for at least that one person or that one family that needs it," Norris said.
Nena's Cooper Cafe is determined to make sure no one in their community spends Thanksgiving alone.
And Free Food Saturday, which was born over 50 years ago as churchgoers started sharing extra produce from their gardens, has become a weekly giveaway of free food for hundreds of people in the area.
“To be able to put food on the table and know that those smiles and those baskets are going to a very good cause... it has a very special place in my heart,” Wilkinson said.
Nena's Cooper Cafe is hosting their free Thanksgiving meal on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The doors open for Free Food Saturday at Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church at 7 a.m., but some people start lining up as early as 4:30 a.m.
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