Every year Dr. Linda Fagan of Country Medical Center coordinates an annual Thanksgiving food drive to ensure non-profit organizations in the community who provide assistance to others in need receive some help of their own in accomplishing their missions. On the Tuesday before this most recent Thanksgiving, Dr. Fagan and a slew of volunteers worked to assemble Thanksgiving baskets consisting of fresh vegetables such as beans and squash, stuffing, pies, cranberry sauce and of course turkeys. Each year Dr. Fagan's goal is to increase by at least five (5) the number of Thanksgiving baskets she provides to the community.
Dr. Fagan cannot accomplish her Thanksgiving Drive alone, it takes help from local businesses and residents looking to give back and pay it forward. Every year, Dr. Fagan works with the Winn Dixie on Campbell Drive to order everything from turkeys to cranberry sauce, Torbert Farms donates boxes of the freshest produce from the field and Case Brothers Farms supplies the wood crates in which the dinner baskets are packed into. This year the Michael Lamb family contributed to the grocery purchase and Mayor Jeff Porter and Vice Mayor Stephen R. Shelley not only covered the cost of the 100+ turkeys, but also joined Dr. Fagan and her team in organizing and assembling the Thanksgiving baskets.
The volunteers who participated in this year’s event were Dr. Linda Fagan, Eddie and Jessie McMullen, Lynne Jones, Danielle Lamb, Anthony and Wanda Simmons, Bonnie King-Moran, Jacki Pilkington, Anthony Oliver, Elijah Bemley, Joe White, Mayor Jeff Porter and Vice Mayor Stephen R. Shelley. "I want to personally thank Dr. Fagan and her team for their efforts to feed those who are in need of help on Thanksgiving and also for their commitment to giving back and making our community better," said Vice Mayor Stephen Shelley. "Its people like Dr. Fagan that make me proud to call Homestead my home.