BATON ROUGE - Wanda Jackson knows the pain of losing a child to gun violence. Her son Justin Henry was killed on Thanksgiving morning in 2021; his murder still hasn't been solved.

But since then, she has gained the strength to begin the Thanksgiving Tradition of giving away Thanksgiving care packages to other mothers who may be going through the holidays without their child for the first time.

"It's not a joke, and I like what I told you last year can't no one can tell you how to feel, how to grieve. Grief is a timing thing, and unless you tie up these shoes, you can't tell me how to work in them," Jackson said.

Jackson said the weight of that loss nearly broke her.

"It was a lot of times, I didn't want to get out of bed; he was the baby, and they just took his life like he didn't mean anything to them," she said. 

"It helps me because I walked through it, and I will let them know how they can work through it, and it's going to be through the help of God because that's the only way through," she said.

This year, she gave out 4 times the number of packages as last year, a total of 34 boxes to moms this Thanksgiving.

Carvettea Selders received one of these boxes. She lost her son, D'Anthony Brown, in August to a shooting; his case is also unsolved.

"It's still fresh, and I think what they are doing is a good thing. I definitely appreciate anything at this time, you know, it just lets me know someone is thinking of me", Selders said.

Another recipient, Linda Dawson, lost her 18-year-old grandson, Terrance Freeman, in a shooting in July.

"It's a wonderful thing Ms. Wanda is doing, and I am glad she reached out to us," Dawson said.

Lisa Wagner received a box as well; her daughter, Prenesha, was killed outside of an after-hours club earlier this year in Baton Rouge.

"It's kind of been rough, but I have my days sometimes, I can go without crying, and some I'm ok," Wagner said.

Each Thanksgiving box comes with a turkey, ham, dirty rice, cake mix, along several other foods. The box also contains a personal note from Jackson and her phone number. She also gives each and every mom a hug.

"I'm here for them, I want them to know that they can call me anytime because it's something to go through," Jackson said.

Jackson said this year, due to the increase, she had to rent out a building and get an army of volunteers. She hopes to reach more moms with her Thanksgiving giveaway next year.

"If God can do 34, he can do 68," she said.

Jackson said anyone who would like to donate is welcome to reach out to her Facebook account.