How A 100% Volunteer-Driven Nonprofit Sparked Community Involvement and Delivered 17,500 Baskets Full of Hope to Florida’s Space Coast Families in Need

By: Julie Kirchner

It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving 2020, and a 10-year-old boy dances in the rain. Soaking wet but cheerfully oblivious, he enthusiastically directs cars while his Dad loads frozen turkeys that will be delivered to families in need. It is the first year this father and son have volunteered at the Space Coast Thanksgiving Basket Brigade in Viera, Florida. For the four years prior, they had been recipients of a basket—they had been the family in need. Now, in a better place and wanting to give back, they donate to support families and volunteer their time.

“This is the impact, this is why we do what we do, and why it’s so important to us,” says Jacqueline (Jackie) Giurleo, President of the Space Coast Basket Brigade. “We never set out to become a charity or this large, we were just trying to do the right thing, and something kind for others.”

  • In 2009, in the wake of an economic recession, a family set out to make a difference in their hurting Space Coast community. In the twelve years since their work began, the Space Coast Basket Brigade has grown to 2,000 annual volunteers, fed more than 17,500 families in need, supported over 130 schools and local charities, and created countless stories of hope to last a lifetime.
  • In 2019, over 2000 volunteers (50% youth volunteers) joined in to package, decorate, and personally deliver 4,983 Thanksgiving Baskets to families in need. And last year—during a global pandemic that completely paused many charity organizations and a concurring food shortage that impacted store shelves nationwide—the Basket Brigade persevered to deliver over 3,000 meals to families who needed help more than ever.

The inspiration behind the Space Coast Basket Brigade came from what Jackie’s family experienced personally. When her mother, April Aulisio, was in an accident that left her permanently disabled with a brain injury, she lost her business and eventually her home as medical bills mounted. As April’s family members worked to try to save her home, their own lives were impacted by the economic crash of 2008. Jackie had been a successful, hardworking young newlywed and homeowner when she suddenly lost her job, and her home eventually went into foreclosure.

The sisters decided they could either look at what was going on in their lives, or they could see all that they had to be grateful for and help someone else who was less fortunate. They recognized that all people, even good, hardworking individuals, can experience life-interrupting circumstances that lead to food insecurity, poverty, and homelessness. Through determination and sheer resourcefulness, Jackie and her sisters started serving the underserved surrounding them, while friends heard and joined in to support the efforts.

“What started with one family delivering four surprise holiday food baskets to unsuspecting families has now grown into one of the largest contribution projects in the Space Coast.” (Jackie)

“When a community comes together to make a difference, magic happens,” the Basket Brigade website reads.

“People are out there and they’re struggling, and you never know the difference that your kindness and contribution can make in the lives of others. You never know the impact, you never know the ripple effect,” says Jackie.

The Space Coast Basket Brigade gives back to the community through the following key events and more:

  • Thanksgiving Basket Brigade is a fun family event where volunteers come together to package, decorate, and personally deliver Thanksgiving baskets to families in need. This event is so much more than a food drive, as volunteers and their children get to experience firsthand the difference that their contribution is making in the lives of others. There is something magical that happens when you look someone in the eye and hand them their holiday meal.
  • This year, Basket Brigade’s Holiday Brigade aims provide a holiday experience to over 1,000 children (there are 2,000 homeless children in Brevard County), including providing the children with food, toiletries, clothing, and holiday gift
  • Their Hope-Filled Holiday Party is a holiday party for families in need, including families who are homeless and in transition. Basket Brigade plans to provide shoes, clothing, toiletries, pajamas, and holiday gifts to all the children while creating an experience for them that they can enjoy as well, with pictures with Santa, a magic show, and a day of fun. Basket Brigade wants to make a difference and help create positive memories.
  • At Basket Brigade’s “Say Yes” Spring Family Fun Fest family fair and festival, they invite the community along with hundreds of children in need—and their parents get to say, “Yes!” Yes to pony rides, yes to bounce houses, yes to rock climbing walls and bungee trampolines. Everything is included for them all day, including lunch and snow cones. The goal of the event is to give these children a piece of childhood that many would never get to experience, memories that they will have for a lifetime, and to give parents a day they can enjoy without having to say no to everything, or having to calculate the cost or feeling unable to do what other kids and families are doing. They just get to say yes and make an amazing family memory together.
  • Follow the Space Coast Basket Brigade on Facebook for specific information about events and how you or your company can get involved and volunteer.

 How Do They Do It All?

 The Space Coast Basket Brigade is a tiny organization run by family and friends who give their heart and soul every year. “People think that we are a lot bigger than we are when, really, we are 5–12 people every year in a living room making this magic happen,” says Jackie.

  • The Brigade works with over 130 organizations, including every school in the county, teachers, guidance counselors, churches, domestic violence centers, foster homes, transition housing, hotels/motels, charities, women’s and children’s shelters, veterans’ programs, elderly care programs, medical programs, and more, to identify families in need.
  • The majority of donations come from small individual gifts, volunteers, and locally owned businesses who donate to feed five families ($250), or $25 at a time, and it all adds up.
  • Over 2,000 volunteers of all ages from more than 20 cities join for the Brigade, and about 50% of the volunteers are youth, including sports teams, cheerleaders, Girl Scout troops, and dance teams.

“We have had thousands of children and families join us over the years. This is amazing because we are more than a food drive. This is a chance to teach children about the difference that their contribution can make in the lives of other families, to teach them about how people can live differently and still everyone is the same, to not judge, and to also always be kind, as well as to be grateful for all that they have—it’s teaching values,” Jackie explains.

To help, there are three ways to get involved: 

  • Donate food.
  • Donate funds. Every dollar counts. Just $55 can feed an entire family.
  • Donate time.

We asked Jackie what advice she could give to others hoping to start an initiative and make a difference in their community. She shared that when she initially got involved in the Brigade, she had no money to donate a basket, her home was in foreclosure, and she was filing bankruptcy and living in a bedroom in her in-laws’ home. “There was no way that I could buy a basket or donate a meal for another family, not even a turkey . . . but I was resourceful,” shares Jackie. “I may not have had the money to do it, but I had my personality and I had perseverance.”

Jackie also advises, “Surround yourself with amazing people, and appreciate and be grateful for your leadership team and volunteers and for all that they give to you. Understand that they are giving you their most precious asset, and that is their time. They give you their hearts, their souls, and their efforts all because they want to do good in the lives of others, as well, so honor that as much as you can.”