CrossFit Excel has now donated more than 1,000 turkeys over the past decade to help struggling Manteca families have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
They topped the four-digit mark this year with another 100 turkeys collected at their annal fitness challenge at their Manteca Business Park location on Moffat Boulevard.
There are four ways you can drop off a frozen turkey donation — and other food items as well — in the coming days to assist with efforts to make sure struggling families don’t go without a traditional meal this Thanksgiving
*Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Greater Valley, 1220 Vanderbilt Circle, in the Manteca Industrial Park.
*Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 18-19) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Manteca Transit’s Stuff the Bus at Food-4-Less on Spreckels Avenue.
*Saturday (Nov. 18) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with Spreckels Park Little League at the West Yosemite Avenue Save Mart.
*Saturday (Nov. 18) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the Manteca Firefighters at Safeway.
Turkeys collected at upcoming events in Manteca will be kept locally to help cover Thanksgiving 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.
Second Harvest Interim CEO Jessica 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.
To make a cash donation or for more information go to the Second Harvest of the Greater Valley’s website at localfoodbank.org
