Giving Thanks in 2020

We all know that Thanksgiving will look very different this year. And it’s not just about whether you typically travel or share a meal with certain family members – this pandemic also impacts how we’re able to provide support to our community. For RELYCO team members, this time of year has always included helping people who wouldn’t otherwise have the means to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

For many years, RELYCO has run two different programs for Thanksgiving: 

• Collect food items for baskets to donate to the St. Thomas More Church’s 80+ Thanksgiving meal basket program
• Help serve Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of people at the Dover Thanksgiving Celebration

With large gatherings out of the question and recipients tending to be within high-risk and vulnerable groups, organizers needed to pivot their approach this year. We’re proud to report that creative solutions have been found!

To streamline their approach and reduce contact, St. Thomas More Church will be using a single-source vendor for non-perishable items and provide gift cards for fresh produce. Monetary donations were welcomed, so RELYCO contributed $500 through our Community Service Team & payroll program.

The Dover Thanksgiving Celebration has likewise changed course. Instead of hosting one large dining event, 600 meals will be distributed via delivery this year. This will actually allow us to serve people who couldn’t attend our in-person events in the past, which means reaching more people than we ever have before!

We hope that sharing how our company’s Thanksgiving plans have changed will encourage you to find innovative ways to safely carry on with your traditions. Hopefully, those include a way to give back; there are undoubtedly members of your community who could use a boost, now more than ever. Don’t give up on finding ways to help just because it might be more of a logistical challenge this year. We’ve been inspired by the ways our community has stepped up and we hope you are too.

Nobody yet knows what Thanksgiving 2021 will look like, but (like with everything else) we will carry our 2020 learnings with us. Perhaps we can create an ideal hybrid of old and new solutions.