JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville youth center is on a mission to put food on the table for more than 100 families this Thanksgiving.
It is a tradition the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation has been doing for more than two decades.
There was a very special delivery made to Aneesah Daniels and her four grandkids. Plenty of food dropped off to them so they can have a Thanksgiving feast.
“They are like the best thing to me,” Daniels said. “I appreciate everything that they do for me. This right here is my lifeline.”
Daniels adopted her grandkids in 2022 and has been raising them for the last six years. One of her granddaughters, Melanie, who is in fourth grade, has been going to the Mal Washington Youth Center since kindergarten. They love Thanksgiving but love this program even more.
“We get to eat and eat and eat and eat,” Melanie said of the holiday.
“For me to have the MaliVai Washington afterschool program for my grandchildren, they have so many services,” Daniels said. “They offer counseling, tutoring, they offer so many things for the grandkids.”
At least 120 families were on the receiving end of the meals for Thanksgiving, including Monika Stringfield and her family.
Stringfield is planning to have a house full of family but says the food will go a long way.
“As everyone knows, groceries are high,” Stringfield said. “This is going to help out not only with Thanksgiving, but I am sure there are things in there that I will be able to prep for after Thanksgiving. Some things I can probably still use like for Christmas.”
Stringfield’s son, Brycen, is a regular at the youth center. He is in fifth grade and he started going there in kindergarten.
“He has flourished since he has been there,” Stringfield said. “[Brycen] has become more confident, they help with his homework. He loves the program. I love the fact that they help the kids, not only with their homework but with their growth, personal growth, the things that they learn and the faculty there is magnificent.”
Leading the charge for the foundation and the annual Thanksgiving distribution is former tennis pro, Mal Washington.
The foundation has been going strong for 28 years.
“There is food insecurity amongst so many people in Northeast Florida, including some of the families here at the foundation,” Washington said. “The idea of giving back, especially in this time of year is very, very special to me and the foundation.”
Each one of the families will get between eight and 10 green Harvey’s Supermarket bags. They are filled with different produce, canned goods and a turkey.
There was one special volunteer among those helping make the season bright.
Keyondra Merritt was a part of the youth foundation as a kid, from seven years old all the way through high school.
After graduating from Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree, Merritt is back where she grew up serving as a school counselor for Duval County Public Schools and a mentor at the youth center.
“My church is around the corner. I grew up here, so why not give back here?” Merritt said. “I believe that this is such a blessing in an honor to be able to show the kids that this is what you can do.”
“What it tells me is that they have learned the value of giving back to their community,” Washington said of volunteers like Merritt. “We have been here a long time. They have come through elementary, middle and high school. Some of them graduate from college.”
Washington is a four-time Association of Tennis Professionals champion, appeared in the Wimbledon Final in 1996 and represented the United States in the Olympics.
Now, he is using this foundation through after-school and summer programs to cultivate students into becoming champions in the classroom and possibly on the tennis court.
“It is just our way to support them because we are a second family to them,” Washington said. “They are like a second family to us.”
“People sometimes and I know in this community may have more than one kid, low-income housing, things of that nature,” Merritt said. “I would like to be that person to let them know that I came through the program, too. There is no shame in our game. This is how things were. We help each other.”
Among the partners to help with the giveaway was Harveys Supermarket. Shawn Sloan is the regional vice president for North Florida Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets.
He says it never gets old when he and others make the deliveries and have memorable interactions with the recipients.
“You can tell that it means so much to them, too,” Sloan said. “There is a lot of need. Food and security is something that we all deal with. It is one of those things that we do not talk about enough.”
Sloan says 1 in 6 people in the News4JAX viewing area do not know how they will get their next meal.
“A lot of people we are going to talk with [Wednesday] are on fixed incomes,” he said. “They have to make decisions on whether they are going to buy food or pay their electric bill. This is one way that you can take one decision away from them that they should not have to be challenged on, and that is to eat.”