PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — It's Feed the City's 27th year of giving back to the Central Georgia community - this time in Fort Valley.
The organization hosts a food drive every year with the goal of feeding families during the start of the holiday season.
Feed the City prepared nearly 1,500 bags of food that include canned goods, mac and cheese and stuffing that will feed up to 4 people per helping. During Saturday's food drive, they will hand out one bag of food and one turkey per car.
Pastor Jordan Poole now runs the group founded by his father; he says it's important to continue the drive's mission.
"Just getting to interact with people from different churches, different organizations, community organizations, from fraternities, sororities, different, teams, clubs that come out," he said. "I think that's one of the biggest things that brings the diverse parts of our whole city and community together to do something."
There will be nearly 1,200 volunteers handing out turkeys and food at the giveaway on Saturday. Poole says the prep night is just as important as the food drive.
"It's a very festive atmosphere tonight - it's more like a party, more like a pep rally," he said. "People can just have fun, meet new people while getting these bags packed for the 1,500 people we're going to hand food out to tomorrow."
Volunteer Keisha Bibbs says it warms her heart to see people sharing their time to help others. Bibbs has been a volunteer for Feed the City for 10 years, and she says it's grown each year she's been there.
"To see people sharing and knowing that they have a Thanksgiving meal, that's when families get together," Bibbs said. "We want to make sure that people have a meal and get together."
The food drive is from 10 a.m. to noon or until the food runs out, on Saturday Nov. 23. The giveaway will be in the parking lot of Hope Church on Sullivan Road in Fort Valley.