Hundreds receive Thanksgiving meals at Turkey Day event
Nov. 17—Crowds of St. Joseph residents showed up on Thursday to receive a hearty Thanksgiving dinner through Second Harvest Community Food Bank's 12th annual Turkey Day.
About 700 vouchers were handed out in the weeks before the event. Cars lined up at the food bank and showed those vouchers to receive a holiday meal with all the trimmings. They were given a turkey, some potatoes, fresh produce and more to help them have a Thanksgiving dinner.
Mackenzie Osborn, Second Harvest communications coordinator, said given the state of the economy right now, she loves that Second Harvest can help out individuals who may be struggling.
"Turkey Day is really important to us because there are a lot of families in our community that we know would not be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner without this meal," Osborn said. "So it is really good for us to be able to provide this for those families. This year, in particular, we've had a lot more calls than normal of families asking if we're providing anything for Thanksgiving. So I think that it's going to be even more crucial than any of the years that we've done this before."
Jamey McVicker, the city's assistant fire chief, was volunteering with the St. Joseph Fire Department. He said that often fire personnel is only around community members in upsetting situations, so Thursday's giveaway was a good chance for them to show their support in other ways.
"For us as the fire department, people ... usually see us when they need us, meaning there's an emergency and they're having a really bad day. So for them to see us out here in the good of times ... we just want to give back," McVicker said. "This is just an event that brings everybody together and just that camaraderie with that spirit of the holidays."
Mickayla Krumme, a volunteer with Stroud and Associates Real Estate, said she thinks Turkey Day is a fantastic way for the community to come together.
"It's a great opportunity to just help people," Krumme said. "Some people aren't as fortunate as others, and this is just a really good opportunity to get out there and, you know, help people with whatever they need, especially food needs and things like that. So it's fantastic. And we really love helping and we love doing it every year."
Second Harvest also had 500 turkeys and boxes being distributed in Leavenworth, Kansas, this week and will have another 150 in Chillicothe, Missouri, on Nov. 20 and 22.
Osborn said the most beneficial part of Turkey Day is seeing the happiness of those receiving the meals.
"It feels great to me to be able to provide anything at all because when people go through the line, you can really see that they appreciate what we're doing and it makes all of the staff that helps with this feel really good," Osborn said.
