PHOTOS COURTESY OF REGGIE ANDERSON

Annual ‘Richard & Nola’ event provides more than 900 families with Thanksgiving meals

MONROE – MTN nonprofit organization’s 12th annual “Richard & Nola” event provided more than 900 families across New Jersey with Thanksgiving meals.

Families gathered from Trenton to Paterson to receive a basket with all the essentials to make a proper dinner including a turkey at Old Ship of Zion Baptist Church in Monroe on Nov. 19.

“The community came together in unity to make a true difference,” MTN founder Reggie Anderson said.

Students, teachers, families, churches, small businesses all banned together with the MTN Organization Inc., a nonprofit organization, to bring a Happy Thanksgiving to struggling families across the state.

MTN’s Community Outreach Director Jasmine Austin-Leaks, while pregnant, worked around the clock to make this project a success, Anderson said.

Anderson and his wife Yvette started the Richard & Nola Thanksgiving event as their own personal way of giving back to those less fortune. The project grew and started the foundation of the MTN organization.

Named after Yvette’s grandparents, Richard and Nola Pearson, Yvette said, “This project is a constant reminder of how fortunate a kid she was to have such amazing role models,” according to the organization’s website.

The next project for MTN is RJ’s Toy Chest expecting to bring over 1,500 toys to children for the holiday.

For more information visit AndersonsMeetTheNeed.org.