A time for giving
El Granito Foundation hands out food to families in need for Thanksgiving
As a large group of people gathered outside of The El Granito Foundation office on Date Avenue Tuesday, volunteers were busy working to sort and stack food items that had been delivered into different bags.
Janice Rice, the founder, director and CEO of the foundation, stood at the head of the pack of volunteers, making sure all the food items were unloaded from a packed truck and put in their proper places.
This is the 45th year the foundation has provided Thanksgiving baskets to families who need them, and Rice said that she loves seeing the happiness it brings to the faces of those who receive them.
“I just love doing this,” Rice said. “I don’t get a salary. If I got paid, I’d be rich and famous. We’ve always celebrated and have had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving, so it’s somewhat of a tradition with us.”
Rice said that they serve any where between 200 and 300 people, but it can fluctuate. The foundation sometimes serves up to 700 people.
“It depends on the weather, if they’re getting work, economical times. It depends,” Rice said.
As bread was being stacked by the pallet, a group of men were setting up a large tent to provide shade for the bags of food that had already been sorted. Plastic bags sat on tables overflowing with canned goods, pastries and fresh fruits.
Stacks of five to six pies were carried to a refrigerator, where they will wait to be served at the foundation's Thanksgiving feast this afternoon.
“I have to come,” Susan Childress, Rice's granddaughter and El Granito volunteer, said. “I have to see the people and interact with them. It's a passion.”
Childress explained that some of the men that live in the foundation's shelter were out helping make things run smoothly for Rice. She also said that the feeling she gets from helping people is what keeps her and her grandmother going.
“The feeling that you get off it, and if you drive on that feeling, that's what keeps you going,” Childress said.
The El Granito Foundation is the only outreach service in Tulare County that gives food to those who are in need on a weekly basis.
Rice said she started giving food away because she saw that too many people didn't have anything to eat.
“How can you sit down and have a big meal when you know people are hungry?” asked Rice. “I just don't want anyone to be hungry. I don't want anyone to go without. I don't want to sit down and eat and have somebody else be hungry, so that's why we do it.”
The El Granito Foundation will keep the festive spirit going today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with a large familystyle Thanksgiving meal complete with turkey, stuffing, gravy, pies and more. The feast will be at 383 W. Date Ave. Rice and multiple volunteers have hand made nearly all the food, and Rice has extended the invitation to the public.
“Come and eat yourself, if you want to,” Rice said.