MIAMI – The city of Miami and the charity Farm Share have teamed up to help make Thanksgiving dinners possible for hundreds of needy families.
For the 10th year in a row, volunteers were hard at work for hours on Wednesday distributing Thanksgiving essentials like bread and vegetables outside the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Farm Share officials said the event benefited almost 2,000 people.
"I'm blessed to have whatever substance they can give us to have food on the table," said Martin Vera, one of the many people picking up food on Wednesday.
As a non-profit organization, Farm Share works to lessen food waste and distributes food that goes unsold to families across the state.
Farm Share officials said the need is greater this year after Hurricane Irma struck South Florida -- especially in the Florida Keys.
"We cannot fix all the problems," said Alfio Ferrea, the director of the USDA program at Farm Share. "But at least we can ameliorate the problem of not having food and not having to go to bed hungry."