TAMPA, Fl.a. — A Clearwater family is celebrating their loved one by helping make sure families have a Thanksgiving meal this week.
The Noyes family started the tradition after Mary Noyes passed away from cancer at age 75.
“Mom was such a big proponent for family and for giving back. And so we decided to best celebrate her November birthday is to do the same thing,” her son, Matthew Noyes said.
Each year, they put together care packages for the same number of families as how old she would have been turning this week. This year, that’s 91 years old.
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“She tells us that not one person can help everybody, but everybody can help one person. And so we really take that to heart. We do it as a family. I have ten brothers and sisters, and 36 nieces and nephews and so as a family we’re able to give back,” Noyes said.
Sunday the family assembled everything someone would need for a Thanksgiving dinner into packages, and planned to hand them out to families on Monday.
“It’s a wonderful catalyst for those families to enjoy Thanksgiving to have their family get together that they may not otherwise get together,” Noyes said.
He said each year, the families helped are appreciative.
“They give us hugs we’ve had families tell us they didn’t know what they were gonna do for Thanksgiving until they were able to get our packages. It makes us feel so wonderful to be giving back to other families that are in need,” Noyes said.
