Members of the Nationals' front office once again donated their time during the week of Thanksgiving to give back to the D.C. community.
Some staff members spent this past Monday putting together Thanksgiving meals at Food & Friends, an organization that provides home-delivered meals and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-changing illnesses in the Washington area.
• Nationals in the community
It's the 10th consecutive season Nationals front-office members have volunteered there.
"Thanksgiving is one of the most important times of the year at Food & Friends because it is a time where we can help our clients share a meal with their friends, family and loved ones," said Abigail Seiler, Food & Friends communications manager, on the Nats' Curly W blog. "We are very appreciative of the Nationals' organization coming to Food & Friends for over a decade now, and spending the full day here in our kitchen, packing up meals, sides and turkeys. It is a great partnership we've had over many years."
The group spent time packaging Thanksgiving meals for Food & Friends clients, which included more than 580 bags of fruit, Thanksgiving menus and cooking instructions. They also prepared daily meals for clients to eat the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Those Thanksgiving meals include items such as roast turkey with cornbread stuffing, roasted potatoes and turkey gravy, glazed sweet potatoes and whole kernel corn, butternut squash and apple soup with dinner rolls, fresh fruit and pie.
Each meal prepared provides enough food for five people, including turkey and the fixings.
The Nationals also donated Thanksgiving turkeys to the Greenleaf Gardens Resident Council, which is less than half a mile from Nationals Park, for their holiday drive, which provides turkeys and canned goods to residents in need.
Jamal Collier