Right Around the River Blog

Rocketts Landing Residents Make an Impact at NRC

Post Date: 11-30-2011

Last week, we detailed the fall Oyster Roast many Rocketts Landing residents enjoyed on the Sky Line terrace. An annual event hosted by their social committee, the gathering is part fall celebration/part fundraiser to help raise money for Fulton Hill families in need for the Thanksgiving Holiday. And let us just say how continually impressed we are with our residents!

Since highlighting the fun our residents had digging into oysters and drinks while taking in the James River views, we've learned about the impact their fundraising efforts had -- and they achieved far more than anticipated. To start, the residents were able to raise $555, which was $200 more than last year, while also striving to support five families. Well, thanks to some fantastic purchasing power by the Neighborhood Resource Center's (NRC) Program & Volunteer Coordinator Penny Ferris, our residents' generous donation ended up feeding 11 families this past Thanksgiving!

“Our members were so relieved and so grateful for this assistance,” says Penny. “Beyond our programs, gifts like this are a way of supporting working families who fall though the cracks of traditional assistance programs. Four families alone, who received their gift, are working single parents. ”

And according to Penny, many of those assistance programs were not as capable of providing Thanksgiving assistance as they normally do. So the money raised by Rocketts Landing residents helped fill this gap and ensure they had food on the table. Penny also was able to take advantage of holiday shopping deals at the local grocery store and purchase turkeys at only $0.08 per pound, which helps buy a lot!

“One grandmother in particular was overwhelmed by their gift,” explains Penny. “She recently took in four of her grandchildren and is working very hard to ensure that her family has all they need to succeed in school and in life.”

So a big thank you goes out to our Rocketts Landing residents who raised money for families in need this Thanksgiving. Your generous efforts helped support many families who might otherwise have experienced a very different holiday!