SAUGUS — When Devin Long wasn’t able to volunteer at his local soup kitchen this year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10-year-old Saugus boy took matters into his own hands.
Aware that more families than ever are facing food insecurity in the midst of the global public health crisis, Long, a fifth grader at Waybright Elementary School, decided to assemble and deliver “Thanksgiving boxes” to households throughout the North Shore and beyond.
“Last Thanksgiving me and my mom worked in a soup kitchen and we had to carve turkeys and box canned goods and stuff,” Devin said. “It was really fun to help families and I wanted to do that this year, but because of coronavirus we couldn’t, so we put our brains together and came up with the idea of raising money to buy food to bag and give to people in need.”
Devin pooled his own funds, and his mother, April Long, matched him.
Hoping to raise even more, April decided to post on Facebook calling on friends, family, and neighbors to donate, and it wasn’t long before the simple idea gained considerable traction.
“People just started donating,” Devin said. “We didn’t think it was going to blow up this much. We thought we were maybe going to raise $200, $300, but once people started donating, we raised like, $1,000.”
As of Thursday, the pair had hand-delivered more than 30 boxes filled with classic Thanksgiving provisions including corn, cranberry sauce, and 14-pound frozen turkeys, and they say they have even more kits to deliver in the coming week as more people reach out through Facebook and the Salem Food Pantry to request a box.
“I’ve learned that it’s good to help people because you could tell how excited and relieved they were to get (the boxes),” Devin said. “A lot of people didn’t know what they were going to do.”
For the Longs, like many other families, 2020 has been a difficult year, especially following the loss of Devin’s grandmother, Dorothy Long, in August.
“She was just a pillar in her community with her volunteer and charity work,” April said. “She always included Devin in that, and it’s just been instilled in him at a young age.”
Devin said it was his grandmother who inspired him to create the Thanksgiving boxes, and as an extra precaution to help keep other families safe, he’s also decided to include a small “COVID kit” in each food box that contains hand sanitizer and other pandemic safety items.
April added that she’s already heard from several households who otherwise would have been forced to forgo a Thanksgiving meal entirely this holiday season.
“He’s doing this in her honor, which makes me even more proud. I know she smiling down,” she said.
“Some of the families have reached out to us and they’ve just been so touched. This year a lot of people are in a circumstance they’ve never been in before, and some have told me they don’t even want to ask for help because they’re embarrassed.
“Two women actually told me that they were going to cancel Thanksgiving this year and because of (Devin’s boxes), they don’t have to.”
