The River Food Pantry staff had planned on more than its usual Friday night crowd.
Kitchen volunteers worked all of last week preparing 40 turkeys in anticipation of the pantry’s busiest night of the year. About 60 volunteers had signed up to help serve food and assist food pantry clients. But, on Friday, during the food panty’s third annual Thanksgiving meal, more than 450 people claimed their turkey dinners, surpassing all expectations.
In all, River served 200 families, compared to the approximately 150 who come for a typical Friday evening meal.
Although the Thanksgiving meal marked a sharp spike in clients, over the past four months the food pantry has seen its numbers continually escalate, pantry director Andy Czerkas said. For the month of June, the pantry served a total of 1,325 meals and throughout October, 2,005 meals.
“Since June, every month is a new record for us,” Czerkas said.
In recent months, the River Food Pantry has seen an influx of once middle-class families who, due to job loss or illness, have started relying on the pantry’s services. These include grocery and clothing distribution three times a week and a free meal Friday evenings.
“I just talked to a women who said before coming here, she was making $120,000 a year,” Czerkas said. “That’s something we’re seeing lately.”
The increased need is starting to stretch the pantry’s budget and deplete its food supply. As the resources of the pantry’s primary supplier Second Harvest Foodbank are being spread thin among other area pantries, River Food Pantry has resorted to buying wholesale in order to stock its shelves.
This more expensive purchasing process, in comparison to the rate of 18 cents per pound through Second Harvest, has taken a toll on the food pantry.
Despite its limited resources, River Food Pantry provided 100 families with baskets containing frozen turkeys, vegetables, fruit, gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie fixings in addition to the sit-down turkey dinner Friday evening.
River’s Thanksgiving turkey basket giveaway is part of a broader effort led by United Way of Dane County in partnership with Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, in addition to the Dane County Food Pantry Network to provide 3,500 families with a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Another participating pantry, the Goodman Community Center, has prepared and will distribute 1,000 turkey baskets today and Tuesday from 1 to 7 p.m. at the center.
Families register in September to receive turkey baskets at local participating food pantries. Those who were unable to register will enter a “turkey lottery” Wednesday, in which leftover turkeys will be handed out at the Community Action Coalition.
According to Helen Hazelmare, the food pantry coordinator for Goodman Community Center, with the exception of a few perishable food items, the pantry has received sufficient donations to fill the 1,000 baskets. In years past, Hazelmore said the turkey basket giveaway has been “extremely successful” and with everything lined up for this year’s baskets, she expects a similar outcome this Thanksgiving.
