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Thanksgiving is a day set aside to give thanks for the many and varied blessings that come from living in a free country.

Thanksgiving is also a time for expressing gratitude for the kind and giving spirits of family, friends and community.

For more than 20 years now, that kind and giving spirit has been experienced throughout the city of Brundidge on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day.

For those many years, the Cornelius Griffin family, church and civic club members and friends have come together to provide Thanksgiving dinner for the city’s senior citizens, the sick and shut-ins. On Tuesday, 450 and counting Thanksgiving meals were delivered with blessings to residents in the Brundidge area by members of the Brundidge Rotary Club. The holiday meals were also available for pickup at Brundidge Station.

The idea for the Thanksgiving meal originated with Brundidge native, Cornelius Griffin, in 2001. At that time, Griffin was a member of the New York Giants of the National Football League.

Griffin said the Thanksgiving dinner originated as a way to show his appreciation to those in Brundidge, his hometown, who had nurtured and supported him throughout his youth, high school, college, his professional football careers and into his role as a husband, father and role model for the youth of his community.

“The Thanksgiving dinner is a community effort,” Griffin said, giving the credit to his mother, Martha Griffin, his wife, Kimberly and family, and a host of church and community members and friends.

His mother said those who give of their time and talents to make Thanksgiving a time of “blessings for others” receive a special blessing for having done so.

“We all look forward to the community Thanksgiving dinner,” Martha Griffin said. “We are blessed to be able to do something for others. Today is a day of blessings in our community.”

Brundidge Mayor Isabell Boyd expressed appreciation to the Cornelius Griffin family for “the way our community has been blessed to today.”

“Cornelius, his family and all those involved continue to care about Brundidge and our people,” Boyd said. “I wish they all could see the smiles on the faces of the sick and shut-ins when the Thanksgiving dinners are delivered in our community. Of course, they are thankful for the wonderful food they receive but they are so proud to be thought of and remembered. It does their hearts good.  Cornelius remembers his hometown and those who have been with him all along the way. He and his family have been and continue to be blessings to our community and all our people. And we are all so very grateful for them and to them.”