Food bank is in need of turkeys

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint Community Food Center Director Alice Wallace is worried there will not be enough turkeys to fill this year’s Thanksgiving boxes.

“I need to start beating the street for turkeys,” Wallace said.

For the past three years, a generous anonymous donor has given the food bank about $7,000 to purchase 500 turkeys at 10-12 pounds each.

This year, however the donor is able to give enough money to purchase 200 of the birds, she said.

“They are giving me a financial donation, but that’s not enough for buying them (the 500 turkeys).”

She is asking community members to step forward and fill that gap by Nov. 16,, which will give food bank staff a week to fill the food boxes. Thanksgiving is on Nov. 26 this year.

A year ago, the food bank filled 720 Thanksgiving boxes.

Wallace figures that number will climb to 800 or even 850 boxes this year given current demand.

On a busy day, staff fill 15 to 18 boxes, while this past week they have filled anywhere from 25 to 26 boxes a day.

Recently, people have come in to the food bank who have not utilized the service in a year, Wallace said.

Demand on the food bank has increased 25 to 30 percent in the past six months — and that is on top of ever increasing demand on it which began a little more than a year ago when the economy began to show a decline.

The food bank recently ordered  67 cases of fruits and vegetables, plus 25 cases of Jell-O and 25 cases of olives for the Thanksgiving boxes.

The food center will begin taking applications on Monday for anyone who needs a Thanksgiving food boxes.

Anyone who plans on purchasing a turkey to donate to the food bank, but plans to do so when the birds are on sale, are asked to contact the food center beforehand so it can get an accurate tally.

Information: 263-3663