ECCC’s many hands make great Thanksgiving

Elder Care Community Council of Franklin County is thankful for the many donations and volunteers that made Thanksgiving a success by providing cooked food for so many in our community.

A huge Thank You to The City of Apalachicola Employee Fund, The Owl Cafe, Trinity Episcopal Church, CareerSource, St. George Island Plantation and Soudra and Fonda Davis. These partners provided food and funds for the Thanksgiving meals and the groceries that each recipient received on Thanksgiving Day.

Captain/Pastor Thomas Webb pulled an all-nighter to cook 13 turkeys for the big day. City Commissioner Anita, her husband Mark Grove, and Adreenah Wynn rose early in the morning to prep the meal and carve the turkeys to have them ready to serve for lunch. Big thanks also go to all the volunteers’ hands that prepared the food and that delivered it out to the homebound and the drive-through pick up. Myrtis Williams donated homemade lemon cakes and the Franklin County sheriff’s department topped each grocery bag with a blanket to keep everyone warm this winter.

The kids from Project Impact created colorful cards that decorated each grocery bag. A special shout out to Apalachicola Police Officer Pam Lewis for always looking out for the elders at Holy Family Senior Center and for helping in the kitchen for Thanksgiving meal preparation. We recognize Officer Lewis as a dedicated volunteer and look forward to the day she will retire from the police force and volunteer even more for ECCC and the elders. 

The #GivingTuesday campaign was a success and we thank each and every donor, from small to big. It’s not too late to consider your “end of year giving” and include ECCC. Together we make the county a great place to be. Don’t forget to purchase HOPE Candles from Bee Inspired, 56 Commerce St, Apalachicola, for yourself and for gifts. These scented candles keep flying off the shelves as quickly as volunteer Martha Harris of Apalachicola can make them. She just finished the third pour.

ECCC sure looks forward to making a plan to resume activities and lunch in person at the Holy Family Senior Center, 203 Dr. Frederick Humphries Drive, Apalachicola. At this time the doors remain closed to all activities except for the preparation and distribution of lunch. Keep reading our column or checking us out on Facebook at ECCC-E Triple C for all updates about re-opening. Call us at 370-0116, email us at ecccfranklin@gmail.com and check out our website www.ecccfranklin.org for more information, to make a donation, or to let us know your ideas for how to serve everyone over age 55 in our community.

To celebrate the December holidays, we will miss the annual Christmas Brunch which was first sponsored in 2016 by one of the founders of ECCC, Martha Hodge of St. George Island. This year, we are collecting hams and canned cranberry sauce to round out the donations that we have for each family to have a wonderful meal at Christmas. We continue the daily lunch, Monday through Friday, for pick up, with Carolyn Williams leading the way in the kitchen. Thank you to all for your commitment and for caring deeply about the over-age 55. There is no better time to reach out to us to get involved and no better time than now to be grateful for everything you do have. This year, we are all the connection to caring deeply for those around us.

This article originally appeared on The Apalachicola Times: ECCC's many hands make great Thanksgiving