The thought of struggling families being forced to settle for cereal instead of turkey on Thanksgiving prompted one Manteca resident to donate $4,000 to the Turkeys R Us effort.

The community Tuesday contributed $4,565 plus 200 frozen turkeys to the effort to make sure that 2,800 struggling families in Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop won’t go without a Thanksgiving meal this year.

That means that almost a quarter of the need can be met with a little over three weeks left before Thanksgiving.

Marie Raymus - owner of the Manteca Bowl & Family Fun Center - said she wants to do whatever she can as to make sure that funds are raised to fill Thanksgiving food baskets.

She has decided to donate $1 from every game and $1 from every shoe rental at Manteca Bowl on the next two Saturdays - Nov. 10 and 17 - from 5 to 11 p.m. to the Turkeys R Us effort. In addition snack bar operator Rich Hogan will donate 20 percent of all snack bar revenue during that time period as well.

Turkeys R Us organizers are hopeful that donations will pick up momentum during the next 15 days so that turkeys can be secured in time for distribution to food closets before Thanksgiving. They also are in need of the trimmings such as cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes, and vegetables.

Manteca is being hammered by a 13.4 percent unemployment rate. Many of those unemployed – as well as single-parent families, low-income seniors on fixed incomes, and families that have reduced work hours or lower paying jobs – often try to avoid accessing food closets out of pride. But the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal – and the expectations their children have when others are celebrating with a traditional meal and they aren’t – increases the demand on the 30 food closets serving the three communities.

As of Wednesday, Turkeys R Us had collected $6,575 plus 221 turkeys. They will probably have to pay no more than 99 cents a pound for turkeys. That will keep the average cost per bird at $15. Even so, it is 37 cents higher per pound than last year thanks to Ethanol subsidies triggering a tripling of turkey feed that comes from corn crops.

That means there are enough turkeys and cash to meet the needs of 659 of the 2,800 struggling families in Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop.

If you can assist Turkeys R Us, contact Coldwell Banker Crossroads (North and North Main Street in Manteca) at 823-8141. You can also call LeAnn McNabb at 815-6754, Sue Teunissen at 483-3365, or the second Harvest Food Bank at 239-2091.

If you have an actual turkey you’d like to donate, you can take it directly to the Second Harvest Food bank on Industrial Park Drive near the branch post office and indicate it is for Turkeys R Us. The drop-off can be done Monday through Friday before 4:30 p.m.