Local Ministry LHLT Expanding Thanksgiving Outreach to 16 Counties

Local and international ministry Love Him Love Them is expanding its outreach this Thanksgiving to serve more people in need across the State.

This year, the ministry will be sending meals to the homeless, homebound, and those in need in 16 counties reaching all the way into metro Atlanta.

Counties and municipalities include Gwinnett, Hall, Fayetville, White, Macon, Franklin, Stephens, Hart, Habersham, and Rabun to name a few.

Love Him Love Them founder Linda Gunter says they have coordinators in each of those counties and towns.

“We have a significant person in the other counties and we’ve done that through the Greater Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce. So they have either the mayor in that town or a leader in that town and they’ll come up on that day and they will get the meals and handle the deliveries on that end,” she said. “Last year we added Gwinnett and where we serve a couple of homeless shelters there. Then, we also do the Hart County women’s prison.”

Gunter said she expects the Thanksgiving meal outreach to eventually become statewide.

That’s why for the first time, they have had to find a bigger venue for the preparation and packaging of Thanksgiving meals.

“We had to expand our location so we will be working out of the Franklin County High School cafeteria. We will deliver not only meals but other supplies. So we still need donations of laundry detergent, pet food, Bibles, blankets, additional food, and eggs. All of those things will also go to the people we will be delivering meals to. Also, another addition this year is we’re going to have a station in Toccoa for homeless people who are able to come to us,” she explained.

The Love Him Love Them ministry also works with the Salvation Army in Toccoa to distribute meals and food at Thanksgiving.

Gunter said she was told that due to inflation, she should expect far more families in need this year.

“I’ve been told by the Salvation Army that we need to expect the numbers to be very high this year just based on the requests they’ve had for food. They say the demand for food has exceeded COVID. We work directly with the Salvation Army for deliveries in Toccoa and they’re also helping with Rabun and Habersham. And they said that they’re not even willing to give us a guestimate because they know that the numbers are going to be much higher than what they anticipate, which is really really sad,” Gunter said.

Gunter said 450 volunteers are needed to help fill plates for Thanksgiving

A volunteer orientation will take place at 6:30p Tuesday evening, November 22 at Franklin County High School cafeteria.

One problem Gunter said is there could be a shortage of turkeys this year due to the avian influenza outbreak last winter. Millions of turkeys had to be destroyed at poultry farms across the country due to the virus.

Gunter is hoping area businesses will step up with enough donations of food so they can serve everyone in need.  Last year, in just Franklin and Hart counties alone, LHLT served over 3,000 meals to the homeless, homebound, and others in need on Thanksgiving Day.

Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving volunteers are needed to help pack meals to send to people in Haiti.

“The Saturday after Thanksgiving, like we always do, we’ll have an event for Haiti. We will be packing 25,000 meals of rice and beans, again, out of the Franklin County High School and that’s always an amazing event. We’ll need at least 175 volunteers to make that happen. And those meals will be sent directly to our children in our orphanages and schools in the country of Haiti,” she said.

If you need more information on donating or volunteering you can contact Gunter at 706-599-7525.