This Thanksgiving, Help Bring Hundreds Of Turkeys To Families In Need

Throughout the year, tens of thousands of people from our area line up outside CAMBA’s food pantry doors at 2241 Church Avenue – a place that, for decades, has served a growing variety of families, from the working poor to seniors and people whose unemployment benefits have run out, among many others. They – the veterans, the retired teachers, the school children, the young, and the old – wait patiently each month to stock up on the vegetables, bread and many other items at the pantry to make sure they and their families are able to eat in a city where between 1.3 and 1.4 million people live in a household that lacks sufficient food.

And, now, we have the chance to help our neighbors at a time when the presence of hunger can be particularly overwhelming, both emotionally and physically: Thanksgiving.

Last year, our community came together and gave more than $10,400 to the local non-profit CAMBA, which meant they were able to provide a full Thanksgiving meal to hundreds of local families. We think we can do that again, and do it even better.

This year, CAMBA’s Beyond Hunger Emergency Food Pantry — which serves 4,300 people each month at its Church Avenue location — once again aims to bring 500 turkeys to local families this Thanksgiving, and they hope you’ll join them.

CAMBA always gives what they can, but turkeys can stretch a pantry budget to the breaking point. So they’re asking for some help bringing Thanksgiving turkeys to hundreds of families in our community:

• For $30, you can supply a turkey and all the trimmings for a family of six.

• For $60, you’ll bring that to two families.

• For $120, you’ll ensure that four families enjoy a memorable Thanksgiving meal.

When they did this a year ago, support flooded in from neighbors throughout our area, and the “500 Turkeys for 500 Families” drive was a huge success – which showed when, during Thanksgiving week, the line of people waiting for turkeys stretched down Church Avenue – and no one left without a Thanksgiving meal in hand. Let’s make sure that happens again this year. Please give if you can!

Photo via Christian Newton.