- Brenda Thomas Smith has been cooking and delivering meals for Thomasville Street Feed for years, despite struggling with an unreliable van.
- The community started fundraising to help her get a new vehicle, but a local couple stepped up and donated a car instead.
- Watch the video to see how Thomasville came together to keep Brenda’s mission alive!
BROADCAST SCRIPT
For Brenda Thomas Smith, feeding her neighbors has always come first—even when her old van was falling apart.
"They thought my car had caught on fire. It was smoking just that bad," said Smith.
I'm following up on how the community stepped in to keep Brenda—and her meals—on the road.
Brenda started as a volunteer at Thomasville Street Feed. One day, someone asked her to cook, and she never stopped.
For years, she depended on her old "Bread Wagon" to deliver the food, until it finally gave out.
She poured money into repairs, but problems kept coming. Some fixes took months, making it harder to get meals to those in need.
So, the Street Feed Team put out a call for help on social media, hoping to raise money for a new vehicle.
But just days later, something incredible happened.
A Thomasville couple saw the fundraiser and knew exactly what to do.
While they wanted to stay anonymous, they told me they had inherited an extra car and keeping it had become a financial burden.
When they saw Brenda's need, they felt it was meant to be.
"You know it's one thing to hear how people come together and pour together to help a cause but to experience it, it means so much," said Smith.
And since the new van arrived, something else has happened—more food, more donations, and more people stepping up to help.
"Oh yes yes. It was packed full when I went to the feed yesterday. We had so much food—it's like since that has happened, extra food has been coming, people have been giving more and being a part of it," said Smith.
Brenda tells me money from fundraising efforts will help cover gas, maintenance, and food delivery costs—so she can keep doing what she does best.
