Toms River Soccer Club's Food Drive Scores 226 Thanksgiving Meals

There will be 226 families sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday who otherwise might not have had one, thanks to the efforts of the Toms River Futbol Club.

For the fifth straight year the soccer club held a food drive to fill baskets for needy families throughout Toms River, said Kevin Leddy, who coordinates the Thanksgiving drive for the club. The baskets are distributed to needy families in collaboration with schools in the Toms River Regional School District and through local organizations that help the needy, he said.

Each team is asked to put together one Thanksgiving basket containing all the trimmings for dinner, from gravy to vegetables, to rolls and pies. ShopRite of Toms River has donated turkeys to the cause, and donated 175 this year, Leddy said.

Some teams do two or three baskets, he said, and one team this year donated 25 baskets. He said other teams donate gift cards instead of the actual items, and Leddy and other club members then use those cards to purchase the items for baskets.

Over the five years, the club’s families have put together 960 Thanksgiving dinners, including the 226 this year, he said.

“We are extremely thankful for all that ShopRite does and thankful to all the families in the club who pull together to help the community,” Leddy said.

(Photos show the Toms River Futbol Club’s Thanksgiving basket drive. Each dinner is packed in a container with a lid to be delivered to a needy family. Photos courtesy of Kevin Leddy)