Turkeys will be handed out to those in the Vicksburg community who may not otherwise get to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

Monday night, Jackson Street Baptist Church members turned out to pack boxes filled with turkeys and the trimmings.

“This is something we do annually around the holidays here, the Rev. Trollars Moore said. “We do the complete box for the Thanksgiving holiday and we do our own personal Angel Tree during Christmas.”

Moore said the church held a sign up through Nov. 12 for any family that needed assistance with food for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We put it out there and they came and filled out a little form with their name and address and contact phone number and when we looked up we had 200 people,” Moore said, “No one was turned down.”

In recent years, Moore said, the church has helped anywhere from 25 to 50 families, but this year the church decided to broadened its outreach.

“We wanted to extend it to 200 families,” he said.

“We realize that there are people who are less fortunate than we are and it is our duty as a church to give back to the community.

Moore added, “This is also an equal opportunity, whether you are black, white, green or blue, we are all God’s creations and our objective is to be a blessing to the community, so that is what we are doing,

During the evening, churchmembers taped together boxes divided up the dry goods that would be used.

Church member Rosie Wince said giving out the boxes of food means a lot not only to those in need, but it also personally rewarding.

“It’s fulfilling when you see a family in need being helped. It does something to your heart,” Wince said.

Moore said Wince did most of the shopping for the dry goods that will be included in the boxes.

Items included macaroni and cheese, cooking oil, meal, flower, sugar, stuffing, string beans and cranberry sauce.

Walmart will be donating the turkeys, Moore said with Riverwalk and Waterview casinos also serving as a sponsor.

“It has really been a blessing, Moore said, because this helped us be able to feed more people.”

In the past, the church has had to use money from its budget, but not this year due to the generosity of church member’s and the sponsors.

The boxes will be available for pickup on Wednesday and for those who cannot come out and get them the church’s transportation ministry will deliver, Moore said.