By DRUW GIAMALVA The Reporter
Food City in Albertville and United Way of Marshall County teamed up on Tuesday for the annual Celebrity Bagging event to raise money for United Way. Shoppers would be greeted by local familiar faces that would bag their groceries for them and every tip that was given to the celebrity baggers went straight to United Way of Marshall County.
Carrie Thomas, executive director of United Way of Marshall County, explained the importance of the event and her appreciation of the volunteer baggers.
“Today is the United Way and Food City celebrity bagging event. I think this is our fourth annual year to do this and we started at 10 a.m. and we are going until 6. We have different celebrities coming in every hour for different shifts and they are our celebrity baggers. They are bagging people’s groceries for tips. All of the tips will benefit United Way in Marshall County. All of these funds will stay here to support 22 different agencies and programs that we help fund here that are helping with critical needs like shelter, homelessness and domestic violence. Our community has been very generous to support this event being that it is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We are grateful for the opportunity to get volunteers involved. We couldn’t do what we do without these volunteers. We are so thankful that they share their time and their talents and their resources with us. They make a difference in our community, and we are extremely grateful for the support that we have from these volunteers every year. This is a great way for people to give back,” Thomas said.
Among the celebrity baggers were Albertville Mayor Tracy Honea, Albertville Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Jacob Roll and Agency owner and Albertville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Jaylon Brooks.
“United Way donates to a lot of good causes, and I think this is a great way to bring folks out to raise a little money and not only that but raise awareness as well for all of the needs. Hopefully, they get to meet a lot of the needs during this time of the year throughout the county. It is also fun. I have been a previous bagger, so it is just fun,” Honea said.
“Today is important. We have a lot of local celebrities out here trying to raise money for United Way. United Way does a lot for this community. All of the money donated today goes to the 22 locations that are in Marshall County. The important thing about today is these people that are shopping at the Albertville Food City are keeping their donations local. It is not going out to different states or communities, it benefits this community,” Brooks said.
“Today is a big day for us just because of what United Way does for us and the community. There are 22 agencies that we have locally in the community and every dollar we make today stays in Marshall County and helps these non-profit agencies,” Roll said.
To learn more about United Way of Marshall County, visit https://www.unitedwaymarshall.org/
