Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude, but also a time to give back to those who are less fortunate. In an effort to do the latter, Tyler Perry hosted a food giveaway intended to feed thousands of families in Atlanta.
On Thursday (Nov. 19), the Tyler Perry Studios Twitter account announced they would distribute “non-perishable food items and gift cards” on Sunday (Nov. 22) to 5,000 families “in need during this holiday season.” Cars started lining up for the drive-thru event on Saturday (Nov. 21) and were eventually handed meals by workers wearing protective equipment. The giveaway started at 8 a.m., and the studio was out of food two hours later.
Perry’s donation was only one of few drive-thru giveaways that took place in Georgia this past weekend. Killer Mike’s Greenwood Bank collaborated with Bankhead Seafood to provide turkeys and gift cards to those families in the community that pulled up to the parking lot of Frederick Douglass High School.
LVRN — the record label behind Summer Walker and 6lack — also gave out over 2,000 meals to those in need with some help from Sprite, Amazon Music and the Everyone Eats Foundation.
Meanwhile, in Compton, California, Nick Cannon and Dr. Dre teamed up and took on the Feed Your City Challenge, which was founded by Tony Draper and retired NBA star Ricky Davis to help feed cities affected by COVID-19.
The entrepreneurs hosted a food drive on Saturday (Nov. 21) at Wilson Park where volunteers adhering to social distancing rules and regulations handed out fresh produce, meat, holiday turkeys and essential PPE supplies to community members.
“Unity is within us all. By us working together we can serve the underserved,” Dr. Dre said of his event. “Thanksgiving is a special time to bring people together. People shouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to feed their family for the holidays, so we accepted the challenge from Tony Draper and his team to generate that unity for Compton during these difficult times.”