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HIGH SPRINGS – Families in need got a little extra help this Thanksgiving to make sure they could have a traditional meal. The High Springs Community Outreach Program, located on 15 SE 1st Ave., which feeds and helps to clothe hundreds of area families each month, has received support from local businesses and residents to assist hungry families.

In an effort to help the fledgling organization meet its goal to feed hundreds of families for Thanksgiving, Santa Fe Ford in Alachua donated 110 turkeys just in time for the holiday.

The organization ended up with almost more than it could handle.

“All of a sudden, we had so many turkeys our freezers couldn’t hold them all,” said Bell Diefenderfer, director for the community outreach program. The overflow went to St. Madeleine’s Catholic Church until recipients could be called to come in and pick up their turkeys.

“This is the kind of problem we’d like to have more often,” she said.

The need for donations has been great, said Lucille Gabriel, volunteer for the program.

“Before receiving the large turkey donation, our freezers were bare by the end of each day,” she said. The gift from Santa Fe Ford arrived at just in time to help feed the families in need.

While Santa Fe Ford made a major donation, other families, businesses and organizations have also stepped up to help out.

Graceworks, located in High Springs, is an organization that helps the needy by selling donated items and clothing at discounted prices. It offered to provide Thanksgiving dinners to families from Gilchrist County, Diefenderfer said.

The Knights of Columbus at St. Madeleine’s Catholic Church in High Springs earns money throughout the year by providing a fish fry every Friday. Some of their funds go toward helping community outreach throughout the year, particularly Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville gave out Thanksgiving food baskets and a turkey a few days before the holiday to anyone sent by the Community Outreach Program.

“All of the area churches help us out as much as they are able,” Diefenderfer said. “It’s really heartwarming.”

One such family receiving a Thanksgiving dinner through Trinity Church this year is the Honeycutt family in High Springs.

“I don’t know how we would make it each month if it wasn’t for Bell and the volunteers at community outreach,” said Victoria Honeycutt, one of a family of six who are helped each month by the organization.

Honeycutt gets government assistance providing seven cans of baby formula each month for her 11-mont-old daughter, Kali-Anna. About halfway through the month, she runs out and looks to the Community Outreach Program for help. It provides a box of food, formula, diapers, wipes and baby clothes to help the family make it to the end of the month.

“When you have three young children, you need all the help you can get,” she said.

Her husband is disabled and she hasn’t had a chance to look for work since the family moved from Trenton to High Springs. “In this economy and with three children, it is difficult to find a job,” she said. Until Honeycutt finds a job to help her family out financially, she said they will have to continue to rely on Bell and the community outreach volunteers for help to feed and clothe her children.

“We have a lot to be thankful for this year,” Honeycutt said.  

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