A Long Thanksgiving Season

Working at the food bank so far has been exactly what I was expecting to do with AmeriCorps. This has been the longest and most rewarding Thanksgiving I've ever experienced. Two weeks ago Friday my team assisted in a turkey drive and collected an incredible 6600 turkeys. The goal was to collect 5000 and was pleasantly surprised to receive so many more. The event was well publicized by KCRA (a local Sacramento television station) and a few of my team members were on the local news. Unfortunately I was out of town that day and missed what my team considers the best day of work thus far.

Last Monday and Tuesday were turkey distribution days at the food bank. 2500 turkeys were allotted each day for distribution and the remaining turkeys were given to other non-profits in the Sacramento area to assist in preparation of a hot Thanksgiving dinner to those that do not have access to a kitchen. Monday was one of the most eye-opening experiences I've ever had and I'm sure the memories will stay with me for a long time. KCRA did a great job of publicizing the large number of turkeys we had to distribute and when we arrived at 6am to begin distributing turkeys, people were already lined up around the block, many of which had slept there all night. I was given the responsibility of "traffic control" and I stood on a street corner and made sure that no one crossed the street until I gave them permission to do so. This turned out to be a great job. I got the chance to speak to almost all of the clients that came to pick up a turkey that day and what I observed was incredible. Almost everyone I spoke to told me this was their first year relying on the food bank for Thanksgiving dinner and most of them have only recently begun utilizing the services at the food bank. One man was a WWII veteran and that was really upsetting to see. One woman told me every year until now she was the one donating turkeys but her business took a turn for the worse this past year and she found herself in line for a free donation. That story became too familiar and I heard it multiple times throughout the few hours I spent distributing turkeys. At one point a crowd of people surrounding me started discussing the economy and how things have never been so bad for so many people. Of course I know the unemployment rate is high and the status of the economy but it really sinks in when I was surrounded by so many people relying on donations for a Thanksgiving meal that I always took for granted. So many people thanked me over and over after handing them their Thanksgiving meal and couldn't be more appreciative of our assistance.




This is only a portion of our freezer after some of the turkeys were already distributed.





On Tuesday I helped a Food Bank employee (also a former AmeriCorps NCCC member) collect donations. It was awesome to see how many people were donating clothing, food, turkeys, and other miscellaneous items while so many people were in need. Everyone was in high spirits and it was really great for them to see the people they were donating to.

Thursday was the Food Bank's 16th Annual Run to Feed the Hungry. It is the largest Thanksgiving day run in the country. My team along with about 20 other AmeriCorps NCCC members volunteered to help set up for the race and clean up afterward. I helped control traffic before the race and helped pick up trash afterward. (I also received 2 free t-shirts which is always a big plus!)

One of our sponsors from the Food Bank invited my entire team over for Thanksgiving dinner. She was an award-winning cook and baker and her kitchen wall was covered in 1st place ribbons from county fairs. Her family was extremely generous and it was really nice to spend Thanksgiving with my entire team. It was definitely strange not being home for Thanksgiving for the first time. For the remainder of the weekend I went to Lake Tahoe with a few friends. The ride there was quite adventurous and took 5 hours instead of 2 due to an unanticipated blizzard. We had to pull off the freeway to purchase and install chains on our tires which is something I've never experienced before. It was a great weekend of hiking and lots of card playing. Most of all it was nice to step off the base for a few days!

Needless to say, this was the most meaningful Thanksgiving I've experienced. One of the employees at the food bank told us we would remember this Thanksgiving 30 years from now and think that it was the best one we've ever had. I can already tell that she's right.

here's a link to a few pictures of the food bank during the distribution
http://www.sacbee.com/photos/gallery/2343099.html