With less than a week before Thanksgiving and more families registered than ever before, the Goodman Community Center (GCC) is calling on the community to help with its Thanksgiving Basket program.
“It’s crunch time for us, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” said Francesca Frisque, GCC food pantry manager. “Donations have started been coming in, but we still need a lot of help if we’re going to provide more than 4,000 families with Thanksgiving groceries.”
For the last 34 years, GCC has provided this service for families, providing everything needed to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home. According to a news release, the center saw unprecedented demand this year, with more than 3,000 families signed up on the first day of registration.
“Inflation has been hard on everyone in our community,” Frisque said in the release. “We’ve seen a huge demand on our food pantry since August, so I wasn’t surprised when so many people registered for a basket on that first day. Every year, it feels so important to make sure every family who needs one gets a basket, but this year it feels even more urgent. There’s not a lot of time between today and when the first car shows up. We’re going to need our community’s help for sure.”
To see the center’s updated Canned Food Countdown and what is still needed for donation, visit goodmancenter.org or on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Donations can be dropped off at the center’s gym, located at 149 Waubesa St. in Madison, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 15; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 16-18; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 19-20.
