Taylorsville man organizes delivery of 776 Thanksgiving meals


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RIVERTON — The holiday season was approaching, and 12-year-old Rob Adams and his family didn't have money for celebrations or the essentials, he said. At the time, the family was living in a truck on an acre of dirt in southern Texas.

Sensing a need, neighbors invited the family to stay in their home for Christmas, Adams said. When he and his family arrived at their neighbors' house, he remembers seeing a feast of food and presents for them beneath the tree.

"As a boy, I always thought, 'If I ever have a chance, I am going to do that for somebody,'" he said.

This season, Adams fulfilled that wish by organizing Thanksgiving feast deliveries for 776 families within the Jordan and Granite school districts. As the idea gained public interest, his project picked up the title of Thanksgiving Heroes.

Originally, Adams intended to deliver meals to 10 local families, but his vision quickly expanded after talking with Jordan School District representatives who informed him that hundreds of families would go without Thanksgiving meals this year.

Adams, 44, and the Jordan district collected $35,000 from personal and corporate donors and used it to buy 16,000 pounds of turkey, 8,000 pounds of potatoes and bundles of other Thanksgiving trimmings — right down to the pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

Hundreds of volunteers sorted and prepped the stuffing, rolls, pie, milk, cider and other items for delivery Monday at the Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers in Riverton. Then more than 200 volunteer drivers delivered the goods.

Most of the food products were delivered raw, but Adams said volunteers cooked a couple of the meals for families who didn't have access to a kitchen.

Roxy Sloan, 9, delivered Thanksgiving meals with her family. She noted that Thanksgiving is less about food and more about giving, since the word "giving" is part of the holiday's name.

Volunteer Jessica Wilkey packs food at Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers in Riverton, Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. The sacks of food will be delivered to families to provide Thanksgiving dinners. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)
Volunteer Jessica Wilkey packs food at Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers in Riverton, Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. The sacks of food will be delivered to families to provide Thanksgiving dinners. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

Her mother, Mandy Sloan of South Jordan, said delivering food was a great opportunity for her three children to develop charitable attitudes instead of feeling entitled.

The deliverers and receivers benefitted from the project equally, according to Krista Mecham of the Jordan School District.

"Even when we called people to tell them about the food, we didn't want them to feel like we were calling them out by giving them these things," she said. "We'd call and say, 'Somebody loves you and nominated you for a free Thanksgiving dinner,' and then we'd ask if they wanted it. By accepting, they're really helping us, too."

Paula Torres, a recipient of a Thanksgiving Heroes meal, said her older kids love to cook together for the holidays, but they usually can't unless programs like Thanksgiving Heroes help them out.

"I am so happy and grateful," Torres said in Spanish. "This Thanksgiving my children and I are going to be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner full of food."

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