NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Friday at Midland Park Ministry Center was not just any Thanksgiving meal giveaway. It was called The Largest Thanksgiving Meal Giveaway in the entire Lowcountry.

Turkey and all of the other Thanksgiving favorites were given away for free at Friday’s meal giveaway.

“Today,” David Irizarry from Molina Healthcare of South Carolina said, “if you turn around and look, we’re serving a little bit over 400 people. That means bringing 400 families to the dinner table during the holidays.”

Serving hundreds of families all at once is no small task, which is why Molina Healthcare of South Carolina, Community Impact Outreach and the Charleston Hispanic Association all partnered to make this event happen.

“We started meeting and saying ‘Okay, lets come together because we all three do so many people,’” giveaway organizer Annette Rivera-Glover said, “and we knew that if we came together, it would expose for love and good and to help the community for what’s happening here today.”

In addition to the groceries that were handed out, clothing and information on various resources were also given away. Spaghetti dinners were provided for everyone as well.

“Each family that comes in,” community advocate Terry Dingle said, “from the oldest to the youngest, gets a hot meal to take with them or eat it on the inside.”

Organizers say being able to assist so many families with food and other needs at absolutely no cost is truly what Thanksgiving is all about.

“When I sit down to have my Thanksgiving meal with my family this year,” Rivera-Glover said, “I’m going to look back and remember this line. I’m going to remember everybody that came in and smiled and said, ‘Thank you so much for doing this because things are really tight right now with inflation.’ It’s going to make my plate of food taste so much better.”

“At the base of Thanksgiving is ‘thanks,’” Dingle said. “How better can you give thanks to God for what he’s provided for you than to take the example that he’s given to us and then turn around give out to those that are in need in the community?”