Families struggling to put food on their tables this Thanksgiving were supplied with plenty of festive and nutritious sustenance to get them through the holiday.
Almost 200 turkeys were distributed to families in need by the Caribbean American Cultural Group, and two additional boxes of food per family were donated by the Treasure Coast Food Bank.
The families are associated with New Horizons of the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee, a nonprofit mental health and addiction recovery provider serving 15,000 children and adults in the four-county region.
Case managers from New Horizons lined up at the Food Bank facility on Angle Road to receive the care packages filled with meat, cheese, milk, produce, nuts, canned goods and more.
“You are a God-given angel for supplying food for my family,” one recipient told Sarah Huertas, a case manager with the Children’s Community Action Treatment Team.
This is the fourth year the Caribbean American Cultural Group has used club funds to purchase turkeys for New Horizons. Last year, the Food Bank joined the effort to provide for a vulnerable population experiencing food insecurity.
The Food Bank also assisted Healthcite Pharmacy in a food distribution to New Horizons clients at the onset of the covid pandemic.
“This is America, no one should be going hungry,” said Fiona Williams, Vice President of the Caribbean American Cultural Group and Co-Chair of the Benevolence Committee. “We are a community that takes care of each other. Our group’s mission is to be active participants in that effort.”
New Horizons has outpatient offices centrally located in Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. The main campus, which houses inpatient crisis programs and substance use residential programs, is located on Midway Road in Fort Pierce.
The agency also provides drug/alcohol prevention and anti-violence programs to 20,000 students, grades K-12.
More than half of New Horizons clients have no source of income or insurance, yet no one is turned away due to lack of financial resources.
To learn more, please visit www.nhtcinc.org or call (772)672-8333.