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The Smiles Say it All at Turkey Give Away

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When you’re helping make Christmas a little more special for nearly 600 family members thanks to 400 Christmas turkey meals the best reward is the smiles on the faces of the recipients. To a person that was a prime motivating factor for volunteers like Jeff Noel, Ryan Ogle, Rich Belisle, Deb O’Connor, Marletta Seats, Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad and others as they enjoyed a sunny afternoon in temperatures considerably warmer than we experienced just two days ago.

They were part of the human food-brigade that delivered frozen turkeys, potatoes, fresh frozen blueberries, dinner rolls, stuffing and more to a long and hungry line of members of the local community whose applications were accepted in advance of the second annual Holiday Food Sharing Program in a parking lot outside of the Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency store house in the city of Benton Harbor.

The brainchild a year ago of Mayor Muhammad, the more streamlined event functioned as a rolling drive-thru event along Miller Street this afternoon. A partnership between the City of Benton Harbor, the PGA of America, Whirlpool Corporation, and the Community Action Agency, the event did, indeed, produce a parade of smiles from those in need who began forming a line fully two hours before show time.

The Mayor called it “an amazing, absolute collaborative effort” of people “just coming together to spread some holiday cheer.” As he said, “Our clarion call is ‘Sharing is Caring.'”  Muhammad called it a great, great day to hand out turkeys, and he admitted his favorite part is “seeing the smiles on people’s faces, knowing that they get to go home to relatives and families to a nice glaze turkey in the oven, and have some family cheer to start the New Year.”

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Jeff Noel from Whirlpool Corporation joined shoulder-to-shoulder with Mayor Muhammad as they broken open case after case of turkeys and delivered them to cars waiting in line. He gives full credit to the Mayor for the concept saying, “When we were talking about the wonderful outpouring of support in the community for the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, we said, ‘What can do do to give something back to the greater community, and the Mayor had this great idea.” Noel also called it “a great way to give back to the community that has given so much to Whirlpool, to the PGA of America, and really to the community at large. It’s the best way to say Merry Christmas, but it’s also the best way to go home and realize how fortunate that we are, and how blessed we have our lives.” He capped it off by saying, “What I love about it more than anything is the smiles that we get, and it’s others who have needs that are wishing me Merry Christmas. It’s just wonderful.”

The PGA’s Ryan Ogle said it is a great way “to say thank you to a community that has embraced the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship for three events now and we have four more in our future.” He adds, that the plan is “to do this every year as long as the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship is hosted in Michigan’s Great Southwest.” He too admits that “the best part is the looks on people’s faces when you hand them a turkey. Some of these individuals may not have an opportunity to make a nice warm meal on Christmas, and so when you see the excitement and hear the stories of why this means a lot to the, that’s probably the best part.”

Yvonne Vidt heads up the Community Action Agency and she saluted her entire crew who yesterday bagged up 400 five-pound bags of potatoes. She told me, “My staff worked so well together as a team, I have to commend them!” She says that the turkey give away “Is really something we’ve always wanted to do, and now with the turkeys and our food products, we’re going to be able to give everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.”

It was certainly a strong start for the holiday weekend ahead, for many grateful families and individuals from Michigan’s Great Southwest.

Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad and Whirlpool’s Jeff Noel delivery turkeys in the Holiday Food Sharing event today…

Whirlpool Business Travel Center Director Rich Belisle helps offload food for families…

PGA of America’s Ryan Ogle preps turkey deliveries…

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