Providence nonprofit gives out Thanksgiving meals

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The holiday spirit in full swing at Higher Ground International’s new headquarters in Providence, where hundreds of families received their Thanksgiving meals through the nonprofit.

Turkeys, eggs, rice, seafood, vegetables, and West African food staples given out to those who showed up Thursday.

Founder Henrietta White-Holder estimated the nonprofit fed a record 700 people.

“This year, because of the cost of living, inflation, the rise of food prices, everything is very hard,” she said.

What’s also made the year tough for many was questions about SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown, which White-Holder said caused their phones to “ring of the hook.”

White-Holder founded Higher Ground 17 years ago after helping her family, who were refugees following a civil war in her original home of Liberia.

“I had to send money for food and make sure they had water, and had this feeling, this calling that I’m able to help my family,” she said. “What happens to all these other families who didn’t have anybody?”