In one Albuquerque home, the aroma of roasting turkey fills the air. Family members bustle about, setting tables, sharing stories, and sneaking tastes of stuffing. Children play underfoot, their excitement palpable as they await the feast to come.
Just streets away, another family faces a starkly different reality. Their home is quiet, devoid of the typical Thanksgiving bustle. The kitchen remains cold, with no tantalizing smells wafting through. Instead of anticipation, there’s a heavy silence punctuated by growling stomachs.
The AnchorBuilt team believes no family should go hungry during Thanksgiving. That’s why in 2009, they approached the holiday with a simple—yet powerful—idea to support 75 local families with 18-gallon Thanksgiving totes filled with turkeys, hams, and all the usual fixings.
People Behind The Mission
Dubbed the Humble Fish Foundation, the project has since grown to support more than 800 local families each Thanksgiving. What started as a charitable effort by a local business quickly grew into a community project. More than 400 local volunteers—employees, students, and community members—work together to pack and deliver the totes each year.
Planning for the distribution begins each August. AnchorBuilt’s team of volunteers contact between 70 to 80 local schools to request information about 10 families from each school who could benefit from the totes. Liaisons and counselors from the schools seek permission from families and then connect them with Humble Fish.
Once they have their list of families for the year, 200 Humble Fish volunteers pack the bags, and another 200 deliver them to the families.
