From College Games to Community Giving

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Some 1,000 Midlands families will have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, thanks to USC coaches and players who volunteered to give to those who need it most. USC Head Basketball Coach, Darrin Horn, and USC Head Baseball Coach, Ray Tanner, galvnized their players for a locker room huddle of a different kind Friday. Teammates packed hundreds of baskets to be handed out at Oliver Gospel Mission. The Mission accepted more than 1,000 applications from Midlands residents who said they needed help feeding their families for Thanksgiving. Mission officials chose the families they deemed were in need the most and packed and sealed boxes full of everything needed for a traditional Holiday feast. A huge line of people standing outside the Mission and a line of cars pulling up to receive their Thanksgiving baskets, gathered downtown. Over a two-day period, 1,000 boxes will be given out. Any unclaimed baskets, say officials, will be collected by the Columbia Police Department and then distributed later to the elderly in the community.