It’s that time of year again for Canadians to give thanks. One Kingston family is choosing to spend its time giving back.
JD Cannon and his family are among those working to make sure no one goes hungry this Thanksgiving weekend. The family provides those in need with a turkey and all the fixings, delivered right to their doors at no charge.
“What we provide for everyone is pretty much everything they need: a whole bag of potatoes, stuffing, bread rolls, pies.” Cannon says.
His eight-year-old daugter Aislyn came up with the idea to create a Facebook page so families in need could contact them for help with a Thanksgiving meal. The family has been running the service for four years now.
“I think Thanksgiving is about knowing about all that you have and thinking about others who don’t have a lot,” Aislyn says.
“Our idea was to just help out a couple of families but we had over 100 families reach out to us, so we ended up helping 15 families and every year since, it’s doubled,” Cannon says.
Cannon says he wants people to know that what they are doing is not charity, but a gift.
In the spirit of giving back, Martha’s Table, a non-profit that provides meals to those in need, is also busy preparing food for the Kingston community.
“We cook for about 250 people on the day. It’s a no-charge meal and it’s really family-style,” says executive director Rhonda Candy.
Candy says volunteers have worked tirelessly to prepare a Thanksgiving meal on Monday at their location on Princess Street.
“I can tell you a lot of hours go into our Thanksgiving here at Martha’s. We start planning and preparing several days in advance.”
Thanks to the service provided by the Cannon family and Martha’s Table, close to 300 people will now have another reason to be thankful this holiday weekend.