Robeson Together distributes holiday meal boxes

LUMBERTON 一 The Robeson Together non-profit organization is hosting its second annual Gobble Gobble Box program.

Before 2023, Robeson Together received meal boxes from the Mountaire Farms Thanksgiving for Thousands project and distributed them to members of the community who needed the means to put together a holiday meal. “They’ve restructured how they do their program a little bit,” said Executive Director Brianna Goodwin. “Since we get regular monthly chicken donations from them, they were prioritizing other organizations.”

The notice that Mountaire Farms would not be providing boxes came just two weeks before Thanksgiving last year, but according to Goodwin, there was still a huge need for them in the community. “Just because someone receives food from our regular pantry doesn’t mean they can provide the Thanksgiving or holiday meals for their family,” she said.

The Gobble Gobble Boxes had to be organized quickly in every aspect, from corporate sponsors, such as MW Electric, to local volunteers preparing the contents. The quick effort resulted in 500 meal boxes being distributed to local families. “We were able to provide boxes for Lumberton Housing Authority (LHA) residents and Fairmont Housing Authority (FHA) residents,” Goodwin said, “and we worked with Commissioner Caroline Sumpter out of Red Springs so that we could get boxes across the county.”

According to Goodwin, preparing meal boxes this year has been much less of a rush, as the organization knew they would need to make them again. Each box contains chicken, cranberry sauce, green beans and stuffing from the Pembroke Piggly Wiggly location, alongside farm-fresh collard greens from Maxton local James Locklear.

Robeson Together plans to continue the Gobble Gobble Box program. “There are some gaps for individuals in the county,” Goodwin said, “who don’t end up receiving a box from a church or Mountaire. We want to fill those gaps.”