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The numbers keep growing. For the past eight years, the Fresh Boyz Club has organized a free Thanksgiving meal on the weekend before the holiday. And each time, both the amount of people helped and the number of groups taking part in this ‘Feed the Community’ project continue to grow. 

Last year, for example, the group partnered for the first time with FACES Food Pantry. This year’s event, held on Saturday, Nov. 23, saw multiple groups get involved, some for the first time. That included the Fresh Girlz Club, the Kappa Rho Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, PE’s Kids, the local YMCA, the Fit Academy, No Label, CC Divas, Jay K. Cooks, Farmville Health and Rehab, as well as the Prince Edward Department of Social Services. The FACES staff also participated again, letting Gould use their Commerce Road location to house the event. 

“This is the 8th year for this event, but the first year that this many groups chipped in to help out,” said Louis Gould III, one of Feed the Community’s organizers. 

Gould is a history teacher at Prince Edward Middle School, but that’s just one of several hats he wears at the facility. He’s the school’s boys basketball coach and runs their track and field program, while also operating the Fresh Boyz Club. 

What is the Fresh Boyz Club?

The Club is a nonprofit youth mentorship program that connects young boys and men. The idea is to, in Gould’s words, give young men a chance to “develop leadership skills, participate in service to others, achieve academic excellence, and practice personal integrity.” Fifteen years after the program first launched, the club volunteers at the FACES Food Bank, the Prince Edward-Farmville Youth Association (PEFYA) Basketball program, participates in community activism and sponsors events like this annual project at Thanksgiving events. In addition to club members, now Gould is seeing more and more other groups interested in getting involved with these projects. 

“It was great to see so many organizations, leaders and community members take part,” he said on Saturday. “It was truly a community effort to pull off this event.” 

Multiple groups help ‘Feed the Community’

Gould pointed out that while it might be the first time some of these groups helped at Thanksgiving, it’s not the first time they’ve worked with the Club. Many of the different groups helped out at the back to school event held earlier this fall at the YMCA. And the groups said taking part in Saturday’s event, where more than 200 meals were given out, was a great experience. 

“Participating in the Feed the Community activity was a wonderful experience for the Sorority members, as well as for the community,” said Avis Gresby. She’s a spokesperson for the Kappa Rho Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. “The experience exemplified the motto of the sorority, which is  “Service to all Mankind”.”