There are 24 days left until Thanksgiving and Turkeys R Us has raised only enough money so far to provide the traditional holiday meal for 1,080 struggling families in Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop.
Organizers anticipate the need will actually be as great as last year - 2,700 families.
“We are just starting to get requests in from the food banks that serve the three communities,” noted Kari Tapia of the Second Harvest Food Bank that serves as the distribution center to food closets such as those at St. Vincent de Paul Society, Cornerstone, Calvary Community, and others in Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon.
Turkeys R Us actually needs to have $17,500 in hand within two weeks in order to make sure they can order and get turkeys delivered and distributed to food banks in time for Thanksgiving. It will cost an additional $17,500 to fill the need for Christmas.
Turkeys R Us had $6,500 in donations as of last week. The organization composed of Realtors associated with Coldwell Banker Crossroads Real Estate has gone 12 consecutive years with raising enough money to make sure no one in Manteca, Lathrop or Ripon went without on Thanksgiving or Christmas when it came to food.
Last year the group raised $35,000.
Organizer Sue Teunissen noted the need is greater during the holidays as people who don’t normally turn to food banks for help do so. While a small segment are people on welfare, most are single mom households, households where one or two parents have been laid off or else had hours reduced, the elderly on severely restricted incomes, and those who have become gravely ill.
She said that the families typically will just have macaroni and cheese and other staples they can afford or get from regular food bank distributions for their holiday meals. The Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have in the past fed the families for several days freeing up money to pay for PG&E bills and other essential expenses they can’t ignore.
Teunissen and Gail Fletcher launched Turkeys R Us 13 years ago after reading in the Manteca Bulletin that families in Manteca would go without a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Both thought that was wrong given they’d be celebrating with bountiful food with their families and friends on the day of thanks. So they asked around the office and asked friends for donations allowing them to buy 40 turkeys.
They took them to the food bank thinking they’d met the need only to be told it was a great help but local food closets were still 1,000 turkeys short. They were shocked to find out that there were that many struggling families in Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon. After that year, they decided no one should go without if they can help it.
If you can assist Turkeys R Us, contact Coldwell Banker Crossroads at 823-8141.
Organizers anticipate the need will actually be as great as last year - 2,700 families.
“We are just starting to get requests in from the food banks that serve the three communities,” noted Kari Tapia of the Second Harvest Food Bank that serves as the distribution center to food closets such as those at St. Vincent de Paul Society, Cornerstone, Calvary Community, and others in Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon.
Turkeys R Us actually needs to have $17,500 in hand within two weeks in order to make sure they can order and get turkeys delivered and distributed to food banks in time for Thanksgiving. It will cost an additional $17,500 to fill the need for Christmas.
Turkeys R Us had $6,500 in donations as of last week. The organization composed of Realtors associated with Coldwell Banker Crossroads Real Estate has gone 12 consecutive years with raising enough money to make sure no one in Manteca, Lathrop or Ripon went without on Thanksgiving or Christmas when it came to food.
Last year the group raised $35,000.
Organizer Sue Teunissen noted the need is greater during the holidays as people who don’t normally turn to food banks for help do so. While a small segment are people on welfare, most are single mom households, households where one or two parents have been laid off or else had hours reduced, the elderly on severely restricted incomes, and those who have become gravely ill.
She said that the families typically will just have macaroni and cheese and other staples they can afford or get from regular food bank distributions for their holiday meals. The Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have in the past fed the families for several days freeing up money to pay for PG&E bills and other essential expenses they can’t ignore.
Teunissen and Gail Fletcher launched Turkeys R Us 13 years ago after reading in the Manteca Bulletin that families in Manteca would go without a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Both thought that was wrong given they’d be celebrating with bountiful food with their families and friends on the day of thanks. So they asked around the office and asked friends for donations allowing them to buy 40 turkeys.
They took them to the food bank thinking they’d met the need only to be told it was a great help but local food closets were still 1,000 turkeys short. They were shocked to find out that there were that many struggling families in Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon. After that year, they decided no one should go without if they can help it.
If you can assist Turkeys R Us, contact Coldwell Banker Crossroads at 823-8141.
