The Thanksgiving “Oozegiving” food drive is a staple event of the Ooze Foundation, and while COVID did put a bit of a damper on this year’s plans, we were still able to provide even more families than last year with a full Thanksgiving feast.
Along with donations from 6 local dispensaries and one partner company, we assembled meals for 250 Detroit families who would otherwise have had to go without their annual holiday meal. Each family received a turkey, bag packed full of side dishes like macaroni and cheese, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans, and a pie for dessert.
“Oozegiving is one our favorite events to put on,” said Ooze Chief Financial Officer Vince Ayar. “We are always looking for ways to give back to our Detroit community, and the need for events like this has been exacerbated by the pandemic this year. It’s a great feeling to know that you’ve put a smile on an entire family’s face by filling their stomachs with great food.”
In order to keep everyone involved safe and COVID-free, Oozegiving was turned into a drive-thru event. The Ooze team masked up and wore gloves to ensure everyone kept their germs to themselves. Once checked in with their registration number, cars entered the donation line and the Ooze team placed all items directly into the trunk, keeping all contact between people to a minimum.
Before the pandemic began, there were tons of people already struggling to make ends meet, especially in Detroit. Now almost a year into the fiasco, those needs have grown exponentially. It is our goal in 2021 to use the Ooze Foundation to find ways to continuously give back and lessen the burden of poverty that weighs so heavily on our community.
“Now that we have an established organization to conduct these events and charitable efforts,” said Ayar, “we have so much more bandwidth to do things like this all throughout the year and not just during the holidays. We know that there are people really hurting out there, and we’re going to make a real effort to ease that pain in any way we can.”
Also in News
The Oozemas Toy Drive: the Most Wonderful Time of Year
The Ooze Foundation turned our Oozemas holiday toy drive into a drive-thru event this year. 800 toys were given away to underpriviledged Detroit kids ages 0 all the way up to 18.
Making a Difference for 15 Breast Cancer Patients
For the third year, the Ooze Foundation has collected funds from pink Ooze products sold in October to benefit the Shades of Pink Foundation. We are thrilled to be able to donate almost $10,000 more than last year, which will benefit 15 local patients and their families.
A Very Merry Oozemas - Christmas Toy Drive for Detroit Kids
Ooze Wholesale and the Shelby Jane Seyburn Foundation teamed up again to host the Oozemas Christmas Toy Drive at Impact Church in Detroit. Christmas gifts were handed out to 500 kids, with activities and crafts, photos with Santa, and a lunch were provided for everyone who came.