Volunteers filled the Como Community Center.
Numbering 53 in all, they packed the center’s alcove, filling bags with Thanksgiving goodies and handing them out to their neighbors in need.
Tarrant Area Food Bank teamed up with nonprofit Como Lions Heart, for a Thanksgiving food drive for Como residents and neighbors on Nov. 18 at the Como Community Center.
Volunteers handed out frozen turkeys, stuffing mix, cornbread mix, and various canned vegetables to about 400 families, who wouldn’t have had a full table for Thanksgiving without the drive, Carol Brown, CEO of Como Lions Heart, said.
“We found that a lot of families, especially children, don’t get a full Thanksgiving meal,” Brown said.
The food drive lasted two hours. By the 9 a.m. start time, cars backed up on Horne Street for half a mile, stretching up the hill leading to the center.
It was a welcome sight for volunteers, who aimed to “bless as many as we can,” said volunteer Montreal Bradley.
And, the food items were a welcome sight for families, as inflation has driven food prices high and left some Como families scrambling, Como resident and volunteer Bryant Davis said.
Cars line up on Horne Street outside the Como Community Center, waiting to receive boxes of Thanksgiving groceries. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Cars line up outside the Como Community Center, waiting in a line of 400 to receive Thanksgiving groceries. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Volunteers at the Como Community Center food drive fill plastic bag with Thanksgiving groceries before the drive begins. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Hundreds of bags were tied-up by volunteers, ready to be handed to families in need of Thanksgiving groceries. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Volunteers load a SUV with frozen turkey, and a variety of other Thanksgiving groceries. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
An elderly woman sits in her wheelchair while tying up bags of groceries to be handed out during the food drive. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Como Community Center volunteers handed out English and Spanish language Bibles at the end of the food drive line, in remembrance of Como resident Irma Jones. The ‘station’ was named the “Irma Jones Lake Como Thanksgiving Bible Giveaway.” (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Boxes pile up under the Como Community Center alcove, behind the food drive’s tables, as the food drive came to an end. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
Tables emptied once the drive ended, as the drive gave away all unboxed groceries, and volunteers packed a few extra boxes away. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report) 
The last, fully packed car at the Como Community Center food drive, filled to the trunk’s brim with turkey, stuffing, and more Thanksgiving groceries. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report)
By the end of the drive, hundreds of empty boxes piled up behind folding tables.
Friday’s food drive helped kick off Tarrant Area Food Bank’s “Happy Healthy Holiday Season,” and was part of the food bank’s “Week of Caring.”
Hosted alongside nonprofits MW Cares Foundation and Gary Patterson and Leon Bridges’ The Big Good, the food bank organized multiple distribution drives last week, which will continue through December, according to a press release from Tarrant Area Food Bank.
The food bank will host a Holiday Mega Mobile Market from 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington.
The recent Mega Mobile Market, hosted Nov. 17 during the “Week of Caring” at AT&T Stadium, distributed more than 1,800 frozen chickens and turkeys to families in need, said Davis, who volunteered as well.
“It’s what all men and women should do,” Davis said. “Help their fellow brothers and sisters survive.”
Video linked above reports more in depth about Nov. 17’s food drive.
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