FresYes People – Building Community One M.E.A.L. at a Time

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are surrounded by friends and family and that your bellies are full of turkey and stuffing and all the rest. It being a day to count blessings and give back to the less fortunate, I thought it appropriate to highlight someone in our fair city who is doing just that. 

Fresno’s M.E.A.L.

It was all hands on deck at The Painted Table in the Tower District on November 15, as volunteers with Fresno’s M.E.A.L. prepared Thanksgiving lunches for the homeless. It’s something that an ever-growing group of volunteers, led by Fresno State junior Justin Kamimoto, has been doing once a month for the past year.

M.E.A.L. stands for Meals Engaging All Lives and, at it’s core, that’s what Fresno’s M.E.A.L. is all about: engaging the community (volunteers with volunteers and volunteers with homeless individuals) through thoughtfully-prepared meals. To date, they’ve handed out 1,204 meals. 

The Thanksgiving 2014 meal was no different. Roughly 50 volunteers packed The Painted Table to pack some lunches for the homeless. Stuffed into each hand-decorated bag was a meal of turkey, stuffing, homemade gravy, mashed potatoes, bread and just about everything else you’d find on a Thanksgiving table.

The Painted Table chefs even prepared their special apple crisps for dessert. Also included: two bars of soap and a non-perishable snack. It is part of the Fresno’s M.E.A.L. mission to get feedback from the homeless people when delivering the meals and try and incorporate their suggestions into future handouts (i.e. the soap).

In total, 108 homeless people received a home-cooked meal that day.

Find out more about Fresno’s M.E.A.L. by checking out their website or following them on social media.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Follow

Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com

Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.

Follow

Latest posts by Kendra Gilbert (see all)

• FresYes vs the Anaconda Burrito - December 10, 2016
• Fresno + Etsy = Easy Online Local Shopping for Christmas - December 3, 2016
• Friendsgiving Memories From Around the Valley - November 19, 2016