Orleans turkey drive aims to serve more than 400 families for Thanksgiving

Asad Jung, Cape Cod Times
·2 min read

ORLEANS − The Farm, a nursery and garden center in Orleans, will be hosting a turkey drive for the Lower Cape Outreach Council, hoping to receive at least 200 turkeys to make Thanksgiving baskets for more than 400 families, said Katherine Wibby, CEO of the Lower Cape Outreach Council. The rest of the turkeys will be purchased through the Greater Boston Food Bank or local stores.

The Lower Cape Outreach Council will then distribute the baskets at its food pantries the week before Thanksgiving during regularly scheduled hours, she said.

More:The gobbling washashores: How wild turkeys returned to Cape Cod

The Council has nine food pantries on the lower Cape, each with its own set of hours. Addresses and hours for each of the food pantries can be found at pantry-hours.pdf (lcoutreach.org)

Baskets will include everything a family needs to make a Thanksgiving dinner, including turkey, fixings and cake mix, Wibby said. People will need to sign up in advance at a food pantry of their choice in order to receive a basket.

Food pantries meeting increased demand

The food pantries are open every week and have served more than 4,000 families, according to the Lower Cape Outreach Council’s website. The pantries provide food to about 500 families per month, Wibby said.

With inflation, Council pantries have been serving 60% more families each month since January, Wibby said.

“The need has certainly increased dramatically for all sorts of services,” she said.

Although the main rising demand is for food, Wibby said, people are reaching out for help with utility bills, rent and mortgages as well.

More:Food pantries increase services, clientele as inflation takes bigger bite of budgets

Normally, the Council can get enough turkeys for baskets from the Greater Boston Food Bank, Wibby said. But this year, the regional bank didn't have enough. Although Wibby isn’t sure why supplies were lacking, she said food bank officials had cited staffing and food shortages all year.

That’s why The Farm stepped in to host the turkey drive.

The drive will be held Nov. 5 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Farm is located at 40 Rock Harbor Road in Orleans.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Lower Cape Cod food pantries need donated turkeys to meet growing need