BEAUMONT, Texas — It's Thanksgiving in Southeast Texas and that means those at 'Some Other Place' are serving up Thanksgiving meals to those in need.
'Some Other Place' director Paula O'Neal said the non-profit serves the less fortunate every day, but it's extra special when they're able to help these people on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
O'neal said while their numbers are down in terms of volunteers and visitors, it's still special to be able to help these people in need.
"A special day. And we're just glad to be here to make Thanksgiving a little bit extra special for these folks," O'Neal said.
O’Neal said 'Some Other Place' prepared 400 meals to give out for Thanksgiving.
She said while they're happy to be able to help those less fortunate out, between the pandemic and their numbers being down lately, it's put them in a tough financial spot at times.
"It's more than just the food, you know, we have to pay for the utilities,” O’Neal said. “We have to pay for maintenance on the building, we have to pay for having a grease trap emptied."
But they've made it through these tough times and O’Neal said they've been able to serve those in need when they need it most like at Thanksgiving.
She's grateful for volunteers like Lee Poskey who said this was his first time giving out Thanksgiving meals at Some Other Place.
"It's a great thrill, you know, to deliver food to them and to help them and just bring a bit of smiles and happiness to their day. It's a great thrill and I love it," Poskey said.
Chester Germillion along with some of his friends was one of those giving out Thanksgiving meals.
He said it's a blessing to be able to help out those in need--because everyone needs a helping hand at one point or another.
"It's so wonderful man and like I said giving back and just helping out I mean everybody needs a hand at some point in time and so giving back has always been something that we as a group and me as an individual always wanted to do," Germillion said.
O’Neal said giving to folks at thanksgiving reinforces the meaning of some other place.
She says back in the day when the non-profit got going it was a storefront but lost its space so they needed to come up with another name.
"We might as well call it 'Some Other Place' because everybody that walks through our doors says 'I went to my family, I went to the government. I went to my church. And everybody has told me I've got to go to some other place,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal said they're grateful for the grants and donations they've received to be able to provide meals to Southeast Texans in need year-round.
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