Photo by
Christina Stuart
Basket Brigade
What happens when 2,000 volunteers get together the day before
Thanksgiving? They pack and deliver over 3,300 baskets filled with all the
trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner to families in need.
What started 10 years ago with one family delivering meals to four other
families has grown into this amazing community effort known as the Basket
Brigade. More than half of the volunteers were children.
Berkeley’s “Bundle-Them-Up”
Blanket Drive
Many people drive by His Place Church in
Melbourne on their daily commute to work or
weekend outings to the downtown area, often
on auto-pilot. But 11-year old Berkeley Wright,
a fourth grader at Ocean Breeze Elementary,
noticed a man sitting on the steps of His Place on
a particularly cold winter night, shivering as he
bundled up to stay warm. Upset at the thought of
him and others spending the night outside in the
elements, she was driven to help those like him.
This past Christmas season, she launched Berkeley’s
“Bundle-Them-Up” Blanket Drive. With the help
of local businesses serving as drop-off locations,
Berkeley and her family handed out all the blankets
on Christmas Day at The Daily Bread.
Alpizar Law Turkey Giveaway
Alpizar Law hosted its 7th Annual Thanksgiving
Turkey Giveaway at its Palm Bay office this
November, giving away 700 turkeys to families in
Brevard. Alpizar Law is committed to helping our
community enjoy the holidays and was thrilled to
be able to positively touch so many.
Serving Brevard as a personal injury law firm for
over 40 years, the team that helps people in their
time of need saw fit to show thankfulness and
support of their community by giving back.
“We were truly blessed with the opportunity to
help so many people this year and were humbled
by the response of genuine thanks and gratitude
expressed by so many people,” the team shared.
Ministry Toy Drive
The His Place Ministries Community Toy Drive,
initiated in 2006, distributed toys to their biggest
group yet, ensuring over 3,500 children received
a holiday gift this past season. Toys are collected
throughout November and early December and
distributed about one week before Christmas.
Each year, the number of children the toy drive
help has grown.
It’s a community effort with volunteers involved
with setting up the toys by age and type and
helping parents select toys for their children. Area
businesses host collection boxes. Then, parents
come into the His Place Ministries sanctuary to
select a gift.
For more information, contact A Mother’s Touch
Movers at 321-253-6040.
PITCHING IN WERE:
A Brownies group who collected over
1,000 bags of marshmallow
Viera High cheerleaders
Satellite High students
Multiple youth baseball teams
Church of Viera’s middle school program
75+ community and business sponsors
Space Coast Area of Realtor, LGI, Northrop
Grumman and Health First were title
sponsors, feeding more than 100 families
each. Northrop fed over 1,400.
Of the 3,346 baskets,
about 850 were “In
Transition” baskets full of
non-perishable food items
delivered to families living
in hotels, shelters, tents,
and trailer homes.
Learn more at:
spacecoastbasketbrigade.com
january ‘20 // 017
/spacecoastbasketbrigade.com