As Glover Empower Mentoring prepares for its 15th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration, CEO Kendrick Glover said that the event, which features free food and gifts to the community, has added significance this year.

“I think what it means to me personally and professionally is being able to meet the needs of our community, especially in trying times we are facing during our economic downfall/shortage,” said Glover, whose Kent-based organization that serves neighborhoods hard hit by the fallout from the recent government shutdown, which furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers nationwide and halted distribution of federal nutrition benefits like SNAP.

Glover urges folks to take advantage of the Thanksgiving Day event at the Xtadium Lounge in Seattle beginning at noon. The celebration draws 300 families annually, and includes a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings as well as free items such as turkeys, coats, gift cards, backpacks, lotion, portable heaters, and baby formula.

Glover Empower Mentoring is a community-based organization that offers mentoring and case management services to youth and young adults. But Glover says that the organization also reaches out to communities where mentees reside, aiming to provide them with much-needed resources and support.

“This is a continuation of a partnership with our community that stands in the gap for them at their most vulnerable time,” Glover added. The organization did the same in September, when it partnered with United Way of King County and Microsoft to fill 100 backpacks for schoolchildren. In August, Glover hosted a Unity in the Community event that offered free haircuts, food, backpacks, and a flag football tournament featuring former Seattle Seahawks legend Marshawn Lynch.

Glover Empower Mentoring is part of the United Way of King County’s Black Community Building Collective, a group of Black nonprofit organizations that gather to share best practices and help determine how United Way funding can support equitable recovery and long-term viability of King County’s Black community.

Glover Empower Mentoring isn’t the only member of the Black Community Building Collective providing meals for families during the holidays. For more than two decades, the Seattle-based Technology Access Foundation (TAF) has raised funds each year to provide Thanksgiving meals to families affiliated with the organization. TAF stated that donations will be used to purchase food, prepare baskets, and distribute them to families on November 21st.

Glover said that such events, organized by organizations that know their communities best, are key, particularly at this time.

“We know right now that with the food shortages in our area, how much this is going to mean to families, to help lift their burdens—just to be able to have something without having to ask for it,” Glover said. “A lot of times, for our families, pride gets in the way.

“And not pride in a disrespectful way. But in a sense that, ‘I’m supposed to make this happen for my family, and I can’t, and now I have to ask somebody to do it,”’ Glover added. “For us, to be able to step in that gap and fill that void, it’s an honor and a privilege, and we don’t take it lightly.”

For more information, click here for Glover Empower Mentoring’s website. To learn more about the Black Community Building Collective, click here.