With Thanksgiving nearly upon us, the Weld and Larimer County food banks are urging residents of Northern Colorado to consider the less fortunate. The Weld County Food Bank has so far only procured one-third of the turkeys requested by the needy this holiday season, while Larimer County is seeing an unprecedented number of people facing food scarcity.
The 101 agencies that work with the Weld County Food Bank have compiled a total of 4,223 requests for turkeys over the coming holiday season. So far the donations have risen to around 1400, with another two- thirds to go before Thanksgiving. Weld County distributes those turkeys to their agency partners, who range from Meals on Wheels, toThe Salvation Army down to smaller local churches. Those agencies provide food baskets to those in need and in some cases actually cook the meals.
Bob Boswell, Food Procurement and Transportation Manager for the Weld County Food Bank said there was an outpouring of donations during the holiday season following the epic flood of 2013.
“Last year the need was obvious for everyone and we surpassed our goal,” Boswell said. “A lot of the county has since recovered. The need is not apparent but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
2014 turkey requests are only a few hundred less than in 2013.
Larimer County has also yet to meet the demand and Larimer County Food Bank Executive Director Amy Pezzani said the need for turkeys is greater this year than it has ever been before. They did get a boost when the Poudre School District held their Annual Turkey Roundup, collecting nearly 1700 turkeys. She said their goal is to acquire a total of 2800.
“Poudre School District’s numbers are up about 100 turkeys over last year,” Pezzani said. “Usually it picks up after the Turkey Round Up a week before Thanksgiving. Most of the donations after that are dropped off directly with one or two birds at a time.”
Pezzani said as of Friday morning, the county still needs 550 turkeys to meet their goal.
The Weld County Food Bank accepts donations at their 1108 H Street Greeley location on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They will also be accepting donations at area grocery stores on Saturday, November 21. Larimer County residents can donate turkeys on weekdays at 1301 Blue Spruce Drive in Fort Collins from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
