For many on the Westside of Atlanta, Clifford T.I. Tip Harris is a homegrown gift that keeps on giving. The rapper’s annual Thanksgiving Turkey Drive, now in its 20th year, continues to feed the very community he was raised in for the holidays. The event brings out hundreds of people who receive turkeys, along with bushels of corn, collards, green beans, eggs, bread, milk, and an assortment of desserts.
While T.I. is the progenitor of this charitable effort through the Harris Community Works foundation, he doesn’t show up all on his own. Every year, Tip brings his family along as well. This year included four generations, from his mother, Violeta Morgan, and his aunties, to his sons, Damani, Buddy Red, and King, and their respective children, who have all been serving since the turkey drive’s inception in 2005 and as long as they each can remember.
“I would say all my life, whether I knew it or not, my family has been giving back and doing all that they can,” Damani Harris told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“It’s instilled in me. I’m 24, so I would say when I was 4 or 5 years old, I definitely remember being here, giving back, whether it was Christmas toy drives or the turkey drives, but yeah, all my life.”
King, 21, says he’s been serving the initiative for at least 16 years, and his brother, Buddy Red, shared that he, too, has been contributing to the turkey drive since 2006, when he was about 6 or 7 years old.
“You know they didn’t need my help, but I think they just wanted me to recognize what was going on and be a part of it as early as I could possibly be,” Buddy Red said.
In addition to family, T.I. has the help of the city of Atlanta, Humana, Comcast, and local food banks as sponsors and volunteers, and the support of longtime friends like Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and fellow rapper Young Dro, who performed a hip-hop gospel song from his latest project.
“It’s a blessing to be able to give back to a community that has given so much to us,” T.I. told BE.
“Four generations, my grandbabies are here … It’s just a blessing, man, to be able to do what we love and to be afforded the opportunity to pass those blessings on to others, especially in times like now.”
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