Washington County Deputies Surprise Community With Thanksgiving Meals

Deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s office pulled people over, but they weren’t handing out tickets. Instead, they were handing out Thanksgiving meals.

Deputies also visited houses to drop off baskets filled with boxes of stuffing, canned goods, rolls, and turkeys.

Tami Downing was pulled over by a Washington County deputy and was surprised to receive an entire box of Thanksgiving food.

"This is going to make our Thanksgiving,” said Downing. “We hadn't gotten anything yet, yes this is going to help us tremendously."

The deputies were excited to put a smile on someone’s face.

"I just feel that if we can put a little bit of joy in their everyday life, where they're having a down time, why not?” said Lee Ann Meade, a Senior Administrative Assistant with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Meade organizes this event every year. Since the last few years have been especially tough for people, the department knew the help would be needed more than ever.

"Giving back to others who are in need during hard times,” said Meade. “As we know since COVID, we've had definitely a couple of hard years. It doesn't slack up, it doesn't get easy on some people. So I feel this is important to help out our community."

Downing said she will always be grateful for what the deputies did Monday.

"God is good,” said Downing. “There's still great people out there, and it's a blessing."

Downing wants people to know that even in times when things are hard, there are still good people who care.

"There's still goodness out there, it's a really tough time for everybody right now, with being sick and losing family, and just struggles everywhere, but there's still good people out there," said Downing.

The Sheriff’s Department hosts this each year, and the deputies said they all look forward to it.