SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTGS) — With Thanksgiving just a week away, homeless shelters across the Hostess City are gearing up for the holiday.

Old Savannah City Mission typically hosts their annual ‘Day of Great Thanksgiving’ the weekend before Turkey Day each year, however, Program Director Jermaine Ray said they are switching it up this year due to the number of organizations planning to host their events over the weekend.

The ‘Day of Great Thanksgiving’ event will now be hosted on Wednesday.

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Ray said they expect to serve between 300 and 500 individuals in need, providing not only a hot holiday meal but bags of essential items donated by the community as well.

We wanted to give each and every friend and neighbor that came to us this year something to take away with them, so we are making blessing bags for them that will have hygiene items, socks, and all this stuff has been donated by different church groups and organizations in the area.

Old Savannah City Mission is not the only one celebrating on Wednesday.

Union Mission will be set up in their parking lot, serving over 375 meals and providing free clothing and household items through their Clothing Closet program.

“You know our homeless community, this time of year, with the spirit of the holidays, they tend to get forgotten, and this is a great event for people to come together, be with each other, have a nice hot wonderful meal, get the services that they need and just really be together,” said Marketing and Development Director Suzanne Willis.

Willis added that they’ll also have J.C. Lewis providing free health screenings and over 30 volunteers on site to help set up, prepare boxed meals, and spread holiday cheer.

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You know, as the needs of the community continue to grow, Union Mission rises to the occasion,” Willis said. “Whether we are serving more food,…