The numbers, in many ways tell the story.
Sixteen pounds of bacon, 15 dozen eggs, 150 pieces of sausage, 15 pounds of potatoes, 72 biscuits & gravy made with 4 pounds of sausage, one big pot of cheese grits, giant container of chipped beef and gravy and too many to count honey cinnamon donuts.
That’s how much food was cooked up at 4:30 a.m. the morning of November 21 by a team who calls themselves the Dawn Patrol at Henderson Incorporated’s facilities off of Mooretown Road in Williamsburg, Va.
The food figures are impressive enough, but what the food was needed for was even more inspiring.
The annual breakfast meal fueled nearly 100 people from Henderson’s family and team (including children) to split and chop dozens of tree-size logs into thousands of pieces of usable firewood and deliver to families across the Williamsburg region.
The event was the 20th Annual Henderson Wood Cut.
Each year, thousands of trees are cleared, making room for new construction across greater Williamsburg. Instead of selling the wood for profit or chipping them up for convenience sake, many of the trees are saved throughout the year for families in need as firewood to help stay warm in the winter.
And every year, for the last 20 years, Henderson gathers to cut those trees, load up the usable firewood and deliver it across the region to families who will need it to stay warm through winter.
It's a way to, as Henderson's leadership said, give back to the community, using the skills and support of their team.
Henderson works with several nonprofits to identify families in need of heating assistance, including the United Way of Greater Williamsburg and Housing Partnerships. Families who receive wood are usually those whose homes haven’t been retrofitted with HVAC and use wood as their primary means to keep warm in the winter.
Over the last 20 years, Henderson’s team has delivered nearly 450 truckloads of wood.
This year (2015), Henderson chopped, loaded and distributed 25 loads of wood. Twenty-two loads went to families’ homes across Williamsburg. Each delivery came with a box of fire starters, a small Bible and a bag of cookies, baked and packaged by the Henderson children and families.
The final three loads of wood went to the Walnut Hills Baptist Church on Jamestown Road, which operates a wood ministry throughout the winter season.
"A lot of helping hands went in to making today possible for our community," said Henderson’s Vice President, Leslie Henderson-Schultz.
To read a complete recap of the annual giving event, click here: http://hendersoninc.com/blog/henderson-hosts-20th-annual-wood-cut-delivers-warmth-families-across-williamsburg
Photos courtesy of Henderson Incorporated.