When Kirk Mayes’ mom goes to Jamaica each year, she takes cardboard barrels full of everything from baby clothes and shoes to canned goods and rice for family and people who are like family.

She packs those barrels to the point of having to sit on them to close them. When his mom goes shopping, she catalogs what the kids in Jamaica need.

“It didn’t matter if this woman was bringing home $50 a day or if she was bringing home $3,000 a week, every year of my life my mother was taking home a barrel or two or three for our family and that was Christmas, that’s Thanksgiving for everybody,” he said.

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