The Food Bank of Alaska's Ship Creek warehouse is filled with more than 11,000 frozen turkeys, along with thousands of pounds of apples, potatoes and canned vegetables this week, all in preparation for the annual Thanksgiving Blessing grocery distribution. It's the culmination of a year of planning for the Food Bank, which will provide meals for about 10,000 families in Anchorage and the Mat-Su.
While food pantries across the state are in charge of fundraising and collecting food for their Thanksgiving Blessing -- an annual meal distribution for families in need -- the Food Bank coordinates some of the most in-demand items: specifically the turkeys, potatoes and apples.
The Food Bank doesn't serve the food directly. Instead, the group collects donations for local organizations, like churches and community centers, which then provide the Thanksgiving meal -- including a turkey and all the fixings -- to families.
Rusty DuMont is spending his third holiday season working the turkey deliveries at the Food Bank warehouse. He's in charge of organizing the giant freezer, where the walls are stacked high with cardboard boxes containing the frozen birds. He said it's a bit of a puzzle making sure everything fits neatly in the freezer in a way that's accessible. The turkeys can't be stacked haphazardly, and small, medium and large ones must be arranged so they can be distributed evenly among the organizations that hand them out. The turkeys were all ordered in March from Carrs at a cost of about $180,000.
DuMont said even though he has 20 years of experience working in warehouses, preparing for Thanksgiving Blessing can be stressful. Still, it's something he looks forward to each season.
"I'm proud to be part of something bigger than myself," he said Wednesday in between stacking turkeys.
Mike Miller, the Food Bank executive director, said they distributed more than 10,000 turkeys last year. Each year they expect a few more, and Miller thinks with state cutbacks, more people might need food assistance this year.
Real Life Church Pastor Barry Orzalli leads the Thanksgiving Blessing in Palmer. Among nine churches and other groups, they end up giving out 500 meals -- enough to feed about 1,500 people.
Orzalli said each year about 225 volunteers help make the event happen. And while it only took warehouse employees about 30 minutes to load a 40-foot trailer with the hundreds of turkeys, 2,500 pounds of potatoes and 21 cases of margarine -- among other items -- planning for the event has been going on since July. But Orzalli said people are willing to help.
"The thing I love the most is that God asked us to do something for our community," Orzalli said Thursday, "and a bunch of people stepped up and said 'yes.'"
In Anchorage, food will be distributed Monday. More information is available here.