With the holidays just around the corner, what better way to show that you care then to donate a turkey to a family in need?
But here in the peninsula, you don’t just donate a turkey, you adopt it with the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank!
According to Executive Director Greg Meyers, the Adopt a Turkey event has been around for at least 15 years, and works to help the families who are in need of a helping hand.
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, it’s been hard for many families to keep up with the cost of inflation, and Meyers wants to make the holidays a little less stressful for those families in need.
“The numbers just came out and the reality is food insecurity rose almost 30% from last year. And, you know, our numbers here sometimes are a little rougher, and it makes it all the harder for our neighbors so we just are doing our level best everybody deserves to have a happy holiday.”
The cost to “adopt” a turkey is $25. The goal is to have 1,200 turkeys ready in time for the holidays, with the current turkey count being in the 500’s.
The plus side is that many stores run promotions, such as buy one get of free, which helps lower the cost on those turkeys. This allows the opportunity to really ensure that everyone has a chance of getting a turkey, regardless of where they are.
“That’s our goal so we can get them across the peninsula. Our service area is the Kenai Peninsula which is you know the whole area so like we fly them over to Tyonek and make sure they get to Hope and Moose Path and Cooper Landing, wherever they need to be,” said Meyers.
Want to help out without adopting a turkey? No worries, the dinner tables needs sides too!
Some of the other donations that the food bank is accepting are canned goods such as cranberry sauce, green beans mushroom soup or any kinds of soup, boxed stuffing, and gravy. If any donation are not used during Thanksgiving, they will be saved for Christmas!
For more information about the program, or if you would like to Adopt a Turkey, visit their website at https://kpfoodbank.org/adopt-a-turkey/.
