Donation match helps Feeding South Dakota prep for Thanksgiving Giveaway

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – As we head into the holiday season, Feeding South Dakota needs community members to step in to volunteer and give donations for their upcoming Thanksgiving Giveaway.

“If you donate to Feeding South Dakota through Thanksgiving we’ll be able to make your dollars go twice as far,” Megan Kjose said, the Development Coordinator with Feeding South Dakota.

That’s thanks to a matching gift made by the Greg and Pam Sands Foundation.

“Food is a wonderful tool to bring together adversaries, it’s a wonderful tool to show love,“ Greg Sands said.

Greg said that his passion for giving comes from his mother. He shared a story about growing up in Minneapolis, where he learned a lesson from a rack of BBQ ribs that she had made.

“Some kids jumped through one of the windows and stole the ribs. I got home and, BBQ ribs to this day are still one of my favorite foods, and the ribs were gone. My mom said what we need to learn here is that evidently, they needed the food worse than we did,“ Greg Sands said.

Three thousand meals will be donated on November 23 between the Thanksgiving giveaways in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.

Another 3,000 will be distributed through food pantries and other partners in forty different communities.

“Many of these families if not for that box of food, they’re not having a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at all,” Greg Sands said.

“It could be a family that’s maybe come into a tough time, whether it’s a layoff or a medical diagnosis or just needing a little extra through the end of the month,“ Kjose said

The generous match from the Sands Foundation helps make donations go a little farther, but none of it would be possible without the volunteers’ help.

“It’s not just guys writing checks because that doesn’t get it done. All of these volunteers need to be thanked they’re working hard. A lot of times it’s a thankless job, and they’re doing it out of love,“ Greg Sands said.

You can learn more about the Thanksgiving meal giveaway HERE.

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