MEIGS- E & P Outreach Organization held their annual Christmas dinner on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at the Meigs Community Center, where families were treated to dinner before bikes, scooters, and gift cards were raffled off to lucky kids and adults.
According to founders Edward and Pheobia Eason, E & P Outreach Organization originally began their mission by simply feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving.
“We rode around town and saw homeless people sleeping at the peanut mill with nowhere to go,” Edward said. “That inspired us to begin serving a Thanksgiving meal over eight years ago.”
Shortly after the couple began serving Thanksgiving dinner, they saw the need to also provide at Christmas.
“The Thanksgiving event is for everybody, but I wanted to do something at Christmas for the kids because I’m all about the kids,” Edward explained. “That’s how we came up with this Christmas gathering.”
The gathering begins with a delicious meal and fellowship. It is followed by a drawing, where children can win bicycles or scooters, or a bag of goodies if they already own a bicycle.
Edward said the bicycles and scooters are made possible through donations from Jo’Nina Citrus and Four Corners Gin.
Edward explained E & P Outreach Organization opts to do a ticket drawing because the organization is currently unable to provide a bicycle for every kid.
“Unfortunately, we aren’t able to give every kid, everything,” he said. “So, we figured the most fair way to do it is through a raffle drawing.”
Edward said he understands some kids will be sad they didn’t win, but as the organization continues to grow, he hopes to be able to provide every kid with a bicycle, scooter, or some type of big item toy.
Edward and Pheobia both said they hoped this would bring the kids in their area some joy, as the community saw two deaths this past week, preventing many from being able to attend the annual dinner.
However, the kids who have attended in the past and were present on Thursday night expressed great joy at winning a new bike or scooter to take home and ride around the community.
Edward and Pheobia said the joy on the kids’ faces makes it all worthwhile.
While the couple is proud of what the organization has grown to be, they said they are constantly trying to improve it or find ways to make the event better and more attractive to the nearly 1,000 residents of Meigs.
They encourage anyone who may be interested in helping out or sharing ideas to contact Pheobia.