First Lady Jennie Gordon’s Wyoming Hunger Initiative and the Wyoming Governor’s Residence Foundation launched Project #ThankfulWyoming this month and allocated $50,000 to anti-hunger nonprofit organizations in each of Wyoming’s 23 counties. The funds will be directed specifically to ensure Wyoming families in need have a Thanksgiving meal.
Food pantries and anti-hunger nonprofit organizations across the state are facing a tremendous challenge: because of the increased demand on resources due to COVID-19, there simply aren’t enough resources left to provide Thanksgiving meals to those experiencing the financial effects of the pandemic. Wyoming Hunger Initiative joined forces with corporate and private partners to bring funding to every Wyoming county to provide Thanksgiving meals so that no one misses this holiday.
“When we discovered that many Wyoming food pantries were so strapped for resources this year due to the unprecedented demand that providing Thanksgiving meals to local families in need might be sacrificed in communities all over Wyoming, we knew we could bridge the resource gap and rush much-needed funding to food pantries working tirelessly to serve their neighbors,” says First Lady Jennie Gordon. Additionally, a partnership with local Kiwanis Clubs identified additional families in need to receive Thanksgiving meals through the #ThankfulWyoming campaign.
Wyoming Hunger Initiative’s #ThankfulWyoming efforts are made possible by generous donors, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, Albertsons Foundation, Hughes Charitable Foundation, Jonah Bank of Wyoming, the salary of Governor Mark Gordon, Jay and Linda Butler, and numerous private donors from across the country.