The Waterfront Mission is seeking the community’s help in providing a traditional Thanksgiving meal to the less fortunate in the area with their annual ‘Meal Ticket’ campaign.
From now until December 31, the Christian-based organization is selling tickets at their bargain center locations across the Gulf Coast region in Milton, Gulf Breeze, Cantonment, Crestview and Fort Walton Beach.
“Our Meal Ticket campaign was birthed at the suggestion of our wonderful Bargain employees and managers back in 2010,” James Robbins, the Waterfront retail service director, stated in an email. “Our Bargain Center teams and customers have helped to provide at least 108,251 meals.”
Robbins said there are four ways to purchase a meal ticket with this year’s theme of ‘No One Hungry or Alone.’
Meal ticket cards are available at all bargain store location for $2.23. Each ticket is placed upon a Christmas tree within bargain center.
Residents can also purchase a wristband featuring this year’s theme at each location for $5, which will also provide two meals. Meal tickets are also available for purchase online at waterfrontbargaincenters.org/donations/meal-ticket-donation/.
Participating sponsors will also selling tickets at their businesses.
Purchasing these tickets helps the waterfront mission offset the costs of the meals they provide to those in need on a daily basis.
“We actually provide nearly 1,000 meals a day, every day, all year long but … We try to make Thanksgiving and Christmas extra special,” Robbins said in an email.
Donations received September 29th through November 26th will be used to help fund thousands of traditional, family-styled Thanksgiving meals at our Pensacola, Ft. Walton Beach and Mobile shelter campuses, The Waterfront website states. Donations received between Nov. 27 and Dec. 31 will be used to fund Christmas meals for the same campus locations.
The community is also welcome to attend and volunteer in serving the holiday meals.
“These are community events and everyone is welcome,” Robbins stated.
“Sometimes good company means more to the homeless than the food provided.”
For more information on the campaign visit waterfrontbargaincenters.org/donations/meal-tickets/
To find out which businesses are selling ‘Meal Tickets’ for the Waterfront Mission, visit bit.ly/1xcvnoq.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Waterfront Mission provides holiday meals