Back in the early 2000s, Cobb County resident Ken Myers joined his teenage children for their first Thanks for Giving volunteer experience with The Center for Family Resources (CFR). They came to help pack food boxes for local families. But Ken left that day with something far more meaningful — an inspiration that would stay with him for decades.
There was something hopeful about seeing neighbors, families, and volunteers working side by side to make sure other families could sit down to a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. The experience stayed with him, and today, Myers is still serving. Since retiring, he has become an important part of Thanks for Giving, and he volunteers year-round at The CFR Choice Pantry.
“Volunteering for Thanks for Giving all those years ago was something I never forgot, and it inspired me to donate through the years,” Myers said. “It was meaningful to see how a group of people could make such a difference for families.”
Myers’ story is, in many ways, the story of Thanks for Giving itself — community members sharing their time, resources, and hearts to assist their neighbors. For 40 years, the program has brought the Cobb County community together with one heartfelt purpose: Making sure families facing difficult times can still gather around the Thanksgiving table and continue traditions that make the holiday meaningful. Since its beginning, Thanks for Giving has provided about 60,000 families with enough food to feed their families throughout Thanksgiving week.
One person who has witnessed nearly all of that history is The CFR Director of Grants Management, Carolyn Bridges. Bridges joined the agency in 1987, just one year after Thanks for Giving began. As the program director at the time, she helped turn a hopeful idea into an annual community tradition.
In those early years, there was no online registration, no large-scale food collection network, and no guarantee enough food would arrive. Thanks for Giving began as a partnership with Cobb Division of Family & Children Services (DFACS), relying on community relationships. Bridges wrote letters to churches, schools, principals, PTAs, and civic clubs asking them to hold food drives and help local families.
The program operated out of the Cobb County Civic Center, and Bridges remembers lines stretching around the building. Many families were also registering for Cobb Christmas, a longtime partner program. “We did it on a wing and a prayer,” she remembered. “We were never sure we would be able to fill the entire need. But miraculously, the food came in every year. We always had lots of green beans and corn,” she added with a laugh.
Former CEO Jeri Barr, who joined The CFR in 1984 and led the organization for more than three decades, remembers when Thanks for Giving was primarily a food drive supported through the school system. The goal, she said, was to give families resources to create their own holiday meals.
“It was about enabling people to do for themselves,” Barr said. “When families get a large box of food with everything they need inside, they can prepare it how they like it — in the tradition created by their own family.”
As the program grew, so did community support. Barr said former Board Chair Debbie Abernathy helped expand Thanks for Giving into a fundraiser by incorporating sponsorships and adding additional food drives, allowing the program to support The CFR’s food pantry beyond Thanksgiving.
“People in our community think about their own Thanksgiving and what it means to them,” Barr said. “They want these families to have that same experience, so they host food drives, donate and volunteer to make it happen.”
Volunteers and long-time community partners have been essential to that success. Lockheed Martin and Genuine Parts Company, this year’s presenting sponsors, have supported Thanks for Giving for decades. Both have provided financial support and brought employees to volunteer, demonstrating a lasting commitment to Cobb County families.
“For 40 years, Thanks for Giving has shown us what is possible when a community comes together,” said The CFR’s current CEO, Melanie Kagan. “Every food drive, sponsorship, and volunteer shift represents someone choosing to make sure a family in Cobb County can gather around the Thanksgiving table with dignity and hope. We could not do it without our school district partners, community sponsors, food drive hosts, and hundreds of volunteers.”
As The CFR celebrates 40 years of Thanks for Giving, the community can once again feed more than 1,000 families this year. While food drives can start earlier, the week-long volunteer event will take place Monday, November 16, through Friday, November 20. Volunteers will work in three shifts each day to receive, sort, pack, and distribute more than 75,000 pounds of food. To accomplish this, The CFR will need more than 500 volunteers.
Forty years after the first boxes were packed, Thanks for Giving continues because people like Myers and countless others choose to show up. To be part of the 40th Annual Thanks for Giving legacy by sponsoring, donating or hosting a food drive, visit bit.ly/3RORh7Z. To learn more about group volunteering, contact DoraLocklear@thecfr.org.
