As Thanksgiving week begins, I’m thinking about Young Dolph and how he made the holiday special for so many people.
The internationally-known rapper (Adolph Robert Thornton Jr.) was killed November 17th, shot by two assailants in Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies on Airways Boulevard.
I met Young Dolph on November 20, 2019. My friend, who goes by “Jake,” invited me to meet the singer at Pine Hill Community Center. He said Young Dolph would be giving away turkeys and coats.
My memory of Young Dolph is of a quiet man with a calm, pleasant smile, who greeted everybody who came up to him and graciously posed for photos with them.
That was the seventh event where Young Dolph gave away turkeys, but it was the first one organized under the Ida Mae Family Foundation, Young Dolph’s aunt Rita Myers told me that day. Myers told me she was board chairperson of the foundation, which was founded in 2019. She said it was named after the late Ida Mae Thornton, Young Dolph’s grandmother.
“What we do is address the needs of the residents of Castalia Heights and the surrounding areas,” Myers told me. “My mother was very proud of her home and the community of Castalia Heights. Young Dolph has always given back to the community. Around Thanksgiving time he always gives turkeys to residents in the community. And during Christmas he always gives tennis shoes and coats to the community.”
She told me the Ida Mae Foundation was a way to honor her mother. “His grandmother was proud of him and raised him. Even in his songs, he talks a lot about his grandmother. We wanted to do something in her honor.”
That was the first year rapper Key Glock participated in the event. “He’s from Pine Hill, so that’s the reason we went to Pine Hill,” Myers said. “That’s the community he’s from. And he was giving away the coats.”
As I recall, Young Dolph didn’t leave the room until everybody who wanted their photo taken with him got their wish.
A total of 275 turkeys and 265 coats were given away that day, Myers told me.
I was looking forward to covering the event again this year. I heard someone say Young Dolph was on his way to pick up the turkeys the day he was killed. I don’t know if that’s true.
Hearts are sad right now. But one consolation is knowing that not only did he leave many songs in people’s hearts, but Young Dolph also gave a happy Thanksgiving to many people, who wouldn’t have had one.
