Focusing On The ‘Giving’ In Thanksgiving By Passing Out Thanksgiving Baskets to 89 Families In Memory Of Their Mother
In loving memory of their matriarch, the Noyes family passed out Thanksgiving care packages (including a turkey) to 89 families on November 20, 2017. Mary Noyes would have been 89 years old the following week, but sadly, she died suddenly from cancer in 2003. Since then, the Noyes children and grandchildren have been celebrating their Mom and Grandmother (and her birthday) each year.
The process has many parts:
On the prior Saturday, the Noyes children bought the dry goods needed for the care packages. There was over 1,000 cans of fruit and vegetables; 224 jars of gravy, and nearly 700 boxes of stuffing, potatoes and corn bread mix.
Following Mass on Sunday, the Noyes children and grandchildren gathered to compile the care 
packages. It was organized chaos at its finest — something the Noyes family learned all about as their parents raised eleven children.
Finally, on Monday, November 20th at 12:00 noon, the Noyes children and grandchildren distributed the Thanksgiving care packages and turkeys to 89 less fortunate families. It was truly a wonderful experience making a difference in so many families.
Mary Noyes dedicated her life to helping others and her children carry on where she left off. She was the music teacher at St. Cecelia School for 26 years where she taught some of her own children and even her grandchildren before she died from cancer in 2003.
“Through this effort, we’re extremely honored to carry out the values our mother, Mary Noyes, instilled in both her own family and in the thousands of students she inspired over the years to engage in true community service,” said Matthew Noyes, one of Mary Noyes’ 11 children.
To see more about the Noyes Family’s 2017 Operation Stone Soup, see the news story on Tampa Bay’s ABC Action News.
Noyes Family Foundation 