MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Volunteers are spending their Thanksgiving morning preparing thousands of free Thanksgiving meals for those in need for the annual "MEMFeast."
Working out of the kitchen of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, volunteers have been cooking since Monday night to prepare to dish out 3,000 meals this year. That's three times as many as the year before.
Meals will include all the proper Thanksgiving fixings from baked to fried turkey to dressing and sweet potato casserole.
Once the meals are completed on Thanksgiving morning, they'll be loaded up onto six food trucks that will deploy to different areas of Memphis.
Lead organizer Brian Harris said the locations were chosen strategically to meet those most at need. Areas he said that have limited food access.
The free meals are for anyone and everyone, Harris said.
"This is for the community," he said. "I have people call me saying, 'I have two elderly parents, can I come by and pick them up a plate?' Absolutely! If you know families that are affected by job loss or people that are just hungry, anybody can come.”
At each location they'll also be handing out backpacks filled with toiletries, warm accessories and snacks.
“Although most people won’t come together traditionally, just to know that there is love still out there for you and get it to-go and still have that similar experience and feeling, I think will put joy in a lot of people’s hearts," Harris said.
People can walk up or drive up to the food truck locations. Locations are listed below:
