Hands for Hunger and J.S. Johnson partner for Friendsgiving Event

Wed, Nov 27th 2019, 03:30 PM

Community/Charity Food/Cooking Press Releases

On Saturday, November 16th Hands for Hunger hosted its 2nd youth holiday event known as Friendsgiving. Presented by J.S. Johnson Insurance Agents & Brokers (JSJ), this special occasion brought together about 175 young people, supervisors and volunteers from various backgrounds to share a meal and celebrate the importance of finding commonality with others during the season.

The concept of Friendsgiving was to host a lunch for the youth who live at the agencies served by that Hands for Hunger’s (H4H) Food Rescue Program, along with members of the H4H Helping Hands School Clubs. The youth ranged in age from six to 18 years old. Guests were encouraged to share through group games, table conversations, and interactive activities.

“Hands For Hunger is extremely proud to host our second Friendsgiving event. Our hope is that each person will meet someone new and find that they have at least one thing in common by sharing stories, jokes, food, and fun,” said Paige Hanna, Multimedia Manager of Hands For Hunger.

The day started off with a bang as guests excitedly searched for 25 people they could learn something about for a chance to win Extreme Bingo. The youth were then divided into four groups for an intense game of Backwards Charades where teams had to work together to beat the clock. After a time of laughter and fun, lunch was served. The action picked right back up again as the DJ started once the meal was done. Before heading out for the day, a time of freeplay was encouraged for a variety of indoor games such as inflatable bowling, jumbo uno and air hockey; dancing; bracelet making; face painting; and photobooth fun.

Providing both generous financial and volunteer support for the event was long time supporters J.S. Johnson. “We’re celebrating 100 years of J.S. Johnson and our partnership with Hands for Hunger,” said William Mills, Deputy Managing Director of JSJ. “We found H4H is a highly effective organization in getting food to people who need it. We didn't want to just donate funds this year. We wanted to get the collaboration of all the staff, our colleagues and families, to show how important the Bahamian community is to us," Mills continued.

Friendsgiving was a prime example of what can be achieved when the community, culinary and corporate partners come together to invest in the lives of others to encourage a stronger sense of community in The Bahamas.

The host location and all the food was donated and prepared by Baha Mar, a culinary partner and food donor of Hands for Hunger. Support from a variety of companies played a role in making this day special for the guests including J.S. Johnson and their team of volunteers; H4H’s November Ambassadors Khalilah Barr and Haley Wilson; Always by Allia Dean; The Baha Mar Foundation; hostess Bodine; DJ Zyon; the Helping Hands School Clubs; June Bug Face Painting; Just Play Games; Leisure Tours, Picturesque Photobooth and Unseen Media.

Hands for Hunger is a registered not-for-profit Bahamian charity (#57211C) led by a volunteer Board of Directors, a small staff and fueled by the efforts of over 1,800 dedicated volunteers. Hands For Hunger depends on corporate partners, community/civic groups and the generosity of the Bahamian community to perform its mission.  For more information about Hands For Hunger, visit www.handsforhunger.org or contact the Hands For Hunger office at 327-1660.