There’s just 15 days left before Thanksgiving.

And Second Harvest of the Greater Valley is being asked by the food banks they supply in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties to supply them with turkeys for 7,000 struggling families.

It would be next to impossible to make that happen in such as short time frame especially with how difficult turkeys are to secure this year.

So Second Harvest decided to take a leap of faith and tap into $60,000 in general funds budgeted to help purchase food to cover gaps not filled by corporations  and others donating food throughout the year to buy the necessary turkeys.

Jessica Vaughn, who oversees outreach for Second Harvest that serves as a distribution center for 91 food banks in the two counties, said the non-profit is hoping annual donations will still be made to cover the tab.

It will backfill the funds needed to make sure families can still be fed in the coming months.

As for turkeys collected at upcoming events in Manteca, those will be kept locally to help cover Christmas dinner needs.

The Manteca-based Second Harvest basically provides turkeys for food banks while the individual food closets come up with the fixings for the meals.

Vaughn said besides the cultural significance of sharing the bounty of harvests on Thanksgiving, turkeys provide multiple meals that can be a godsend for families trying to stretch  budgets during the holidays.

Second Harvest on an annual basis helps 35,000 unique individuals.

Starting about six months ago, though there was a noted uptick of over 40 percent increase in demand from people, who usually don’t — or never have — accessed food banks.

Vaughn emphasized that much of the increased need are people who are struggling to make ends meet that weren’t in a bad spot before inflation started soaring.

Some of it has to do with not having pay keep up with inflation.

Sometimes it is an unexpected major bill such as for medical needs or a car repair.

And in more than  a few instances, rising rents have diverted tightly budgeted family resources to make sure they can keep a roof over their heads.

More information about Second Harvest can be found  at Second Harvest of the Greater Valley’s website at localfoodbank.org

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabullletin.com