Overland Park ? A high school student in suburban Kansas City organized a food drive to give away about 500 Thanksgiving meals over the weekend.

Elaine Odum, 18, and a dozen volunteers gave away about 200 meals Saturday at a church in Overland Park. They were hoping to give out more than 200 additional meals Sunday in Kansas City, Kan. Whatever was left was to go to another Overland Park church to distribute.

“It was such a surprise that she took this on,” her mother, Trina Odum, told The Kansas City Star. “But she was confident that she could do it. She said, ‘God gave me this challenge, and he’s going to provide.’ “

Odum’s inspiration came on a note card she received after attending a Christian youth conference last summer. The card said, “Organize a food drive for Thanksgiving this year. Make it your goal to raise enough food and funds to feed 500 families.”

Odum, a senior at Shawnee Mission West High School, said she spent hours passing out fliers in her neighborhood beginning in October and talked to grocery store managers about buying the food. She also created a website updating her progress.

It wasn’t long before food and money started pouring in. One family donated $1,000, as did her church, Legacy Christian.

Odum bought the food Friday night and Saturday morning. Each meal contained a turkey, a box of mashed potatoes, a box of stuffing, two cans each of corn and green beans, a can of cranberry sauce and a box of brownie mix. She calculated the total value of the purchased and donated products to be about $8,500.

Chresea Smutz said she was happy to receive the food.

“This is helping me out extremely,” she said, as volunteers handed her a frozen turkey Saturday. “Thanksgiving wouldn’t have been much of anything without it.”