10-year-old Mooresville girl makes Thanksgiving meal possible for hundreds

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (WBTV) - Like the leaves, the need for food changes with the seasons. This year at Feed NC in Mooresville the need is greater than usual.

“Because the demand has grown over the last couple of years we need about 350 turkeys to try to give a nice turkey dinner and all the fixings to families that come in and shop here at our pantry all your long and that’s been difficult this year,” Lara Ingram, the executive director of Feed NC, said. “Turkeys are a little harder to find and the cost of everything is more expensive at the grocery stores so it started off a little slow. At the beginning of November, we are a little bit concerned.”

Enter Reese Grandelli - a 10-year-old girl who loves lacrosse and helping her neighbors.

“128 turkeys, 50 hams, 40 cans of corn, 50 boxes of stuffing, 48 cans of cranberries, 50 mashed potatoes, 36 jars of gravy, 46 cans of yams, and 21 boxes of small marshmallows,” Reese read off of a list of food she recently donated to the food pantry.

It’s her fourth year planning, raising money, and giving back.

The urge to help started when she was much younger - at 6 years old.

“Whenever we went to see a musical I saw the tent cities whenever we were driving and all of the people on the bench and I wanted to help them,” Reese said.

Help she did.

“She made sure the hundreds of people are going to have Thanksgiving,” Ingram said.

“It makes me really happy that they get to eat too,” Reese added.

Reese’s giving never seems to stop.

While at Feed NC, she surprised them with another blessing.

She handed over a check for $2,000 from last-minute donations from a neighbor with a match from CarMax cares. It brings her total to $4,000 all raised by a kindhearted 10-year-old who is constantly thinking of others.

“It’s really important to help everyone even though you might not need help you can still help them out,” Reese said.

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