For many families, Thanksgiving is a time to gather with loved ones and share a meal. However, with continued high prices on everything, including groceries, the holidays this year are bringing added stress for far too many. According to a new USDA food insecurity report, over 17 million households experienced food insecurity in 2022 – an increase of nearly 3.5 million households compared to 2021. While we don’t have numbers for 2023 yet, it’s clear the need for access to quality food remains high.
At Goodr, we work all year round to end hunger by bringing free high-quality groceries to food-insecure communities through our variety of Hunger Solutions. Our events make sure that people finding themselves in the vulnerable position of being food insecure have a kind, dignified, and free shopping experience to get the groceries they need for their families. Each year, our work ramps up as we head into the holiday season, and with the high need, 2023 has been no different. With this in mind, we did what we do best – rolled up our sleeves and joined together with some amazing partners to provide Thanksgiving groceries and essentials to families across the country.
This year, we teamed up with partners like Quality Control Music, the Kandi Cares Foundation, Aetna, and CJ McCollum for our signature Pop-Up Grocery Markets.
Altogether, we are proud to know that we served more than 86,000 meals to over 2,000 families from Georgia to Virginia to New Orleans.
In this blog post, we invite you to see the moments of generosity, connection, and shared abundance that defined our Thanksgiving Pop-Up Grocery Markets, showcasing the power of community and compassion. Join us as we reflect on the meaningful impact our collective efforts had on making Thanksgiving a little brighter for those we served.
Aetna Virginia
For the first time, we partnered with Aetna Better Health of Virginia for Pop-Up Grocery Markets in Petersburg and Norfolk. Ahead of Thanksgiving, we provided health information, games, fun, and groceries to 200 families at each event.
CJ McCollum
For the second year in a row, we teamed up with New Orleans Pelicans player CJ McCollum to feed NOLA families ahead of the holiday. With the help of fellow Pelicans player Trey Murphy III, Pierre the Pelican, and more, we were able to serve Thanksgiving essentials to 500 families at the McCollum Friendsgiving 2023 Pop-Up Grocery Market.
Quality Control
In Atlanta, we joined forces with long-term partner Quality Control Music to provide Thanksgiving essentials for more than 300 south Atlanta families. With our DJ and plenty of volunteers from the Quality Control team, we were able to create a fun atmosphere full of choice and for families to receive all the grocery items they needed for the holiday meals. Take a look at the Quality Control Music Thanksgiving Pop-Up Market in action!
Kandi Cares & Aetna Georgia
Rain or shine, we are committed to doing Goodr! Despite heavy rain, we hosted a Thanksgiving Pop-Up Market in partnership with Kandi Burruss‘ Kandi Cares Foundation and Aetna Better Health of Georgia. Together, we provided turkeys, fresh collard greens, sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, and much more to over 750 Atlanta families. See how we persevered through the storm to bring a little light and free food to families in the Atlanta metro area before Thanksgiving.
It’s always an honor to provide free groceries to families across the country with the help of our amazing partners. To help ensure families have what they need to cook good and nutritious meals throughout the year, especially during the holidays, is what we mean when we say do Goodr!
