The students at Tokyo Joe's Studios of Self Defense in Hudson, NH are providing Thanksgiving dinners for 100 homeless Nashua-area families this year.
When: Sunday, November 23, 10 a.m. to noon Where: Tokyo Joe's Studios of Self Defense, 142 Lowell Road, Hudson What: Several truckloads of food will arrive at the karate school at 10:00 a.m. and the children will spend hours to assemble them into 100 Thanksgiving "baskets" (large cardboard crates)
The Thanksgiving "baskets" include everything that a family of four needs for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner: full size frozen turkey, potatoes, onions, squash, mushrooms, olives, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cranberry juice, gravy, dinner rolls, roasting pan and foil, and 2 pies! Market Basket of Londonderry (manager Mark Lemieux) is providing all the food at cost.
The children raised over $4000 to pay for the 100 dinners by holding a "kickathon" in which they obtained sponsors to pay them for every kick they could perform. They also sold hundreds of raffle tickets and raffled off an iPod Touch donated by karate school owner Matt Babine. This is the second year for the community service project. Last year, the students fed 50 families through the Nashua Pastoral Care Center. They set a goal of 100 families this year and achieved it. The Nashua Pastoral Care Center couldn't take all 100 dinners, so the dinners are being delivered to 3 different organizations who help homeless and needy families:
Pastoral Care Center, Nashua St. John's Church, Hudson Anne Marie House, Hudson -- Tokyo Joe's Karate Hudson (603) 577-4560 www.tokyojoeshudson.com