NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WRKN) — Metro Social Services (MSS) is making sure families have enough to eat this holiday season by hosting its annual Holiday Toy and Food Giveaway Saturday with local celebrity soccer player Shaq Moore and mascot Tempo from the Nashville Soccer Club (SC).
“[We’re] just appreciating that love and that warmth that you can’t really buy,” Moore, right back for Nashville SC, said. “Some families aren’t as fortunate as others and we want to just give our time and our energy and just our will to those families that’s in need and share the holiday season with them.”
MSS handed out food boxes, toy gift bags, and bicycles to about 400 families on Saturday, Dec. 21, with each food box expected to sustain families for about a week to a week and a half.
“If we didn’t help and if we didn’t provide food, many families would probably go without,” explained Renee Pratt, executive director for MSS, “so this is just a small effort to say ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy Holidays,’ and hopefully this will sustain you into the new year.”
This year’s giveaway is the third food drive MSS has organized since this fall to address the growing number of families requesting food support and access in the Metro area.
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According to an MSS community needs evaluation report, currently one in 10 Nashvillians struggle with food insecurity, meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from.
The report also shows Nashville has had higher poverty rates compared to its peer cities and the U.S. as a whole for most of the past decade. If you would like to help families in need, MSS suggests volunteering at your local church or calling MSS at 615-862-6432.
