Crystal Wise
Approximately 15,000 North Texas families were the recipients of 900,000 pounds of food this November thanks to The Big Give, a Thanksgiving-themed fundraiser. The Big Give — you guessed it — is related to The Big Good, which hosts an annual event that focuses on food shortages in the North Texas area near the holiday season. The Big Good is a joint fundraising effort, the brainchild of Grammy Award-winning recording artist and Fort Worth-native Leon Bridges and Gary Patterson, the acclaimed former head football coach at TCU.
Over the past three years, these two Fort Worth celebs have worked alongside several community partners on a host of local philanthropic causes, including gathering food for families in need. This year, Bridges and Patterson partnered with MW Logistics and the Tarrant Area Food Bank to create The Big Give, a five-day event that kicked off Nov. 16.
Bridges and Patterson, along with his wife Kelsey, surprised volunteers with a helping hand at various Big Give locations during the event.
“We are very privileged to continue supporting this effort every year,” Patterson says. “And we are very grateful to the Tarrant Area Food Bank and MW Logistics who make this happen every year. This is a project that Kelsey and I have long been involved in, and to see it evolve into what it is today is truly something. We look forward to continuing this project for the years to come.”
According to the organization, the original goal was to help serve 10,000 families, but because of the outpouring of support from the community, that goal was exceeded.
The multiple distributions provided an average of 60 pounds of food to 15,000 families.
“It is really special to be on the ground with the volunteers and families,” Bridges says. “Everyone that we are able to serve is so grateful for these meals and they continue to pay it forward in their own communities. Having a meal at Thanksgiving is something that we can all begin to take for granted, so it is really important for us to get out here every year, help these families out and remember what the holidays are all about.”
The Big Good also recognized its sponsors with a “special thank you” to George Young Jr. Higginbotham employees joined in onsite, as well, to help distribute meals to families.
For ways to get involved or sponsorship information, visit thebiggood.org or [email protected].
