Anchorage Daily News

Surprisingly big crowds showed up at designated spots around Anchorage on Monday to collect free groceries for a big Thanksgiving meal.

Organizers expected to provide a turkey and all the fixings for 5,000 families.

Instead, 5,787 showed up. That's an increase of more than one-third from last year's count of 4,237.

Why so many more?

"The economy," said Susannah Morgan, executive director of the Food Bank of Alaska, which organizes the event, now in its fifth year.

"We were expecting a 15 percent increase, so when we're seeing a 37 percent increase, my jaw hit the floor. I was absolutely flabbergasted at how many more people were showing up," Morgan said.

Many are working families who struggle to cover their routine bills, she said. They just don't have extra money for a holiday celebration.

Some lined up two hours before the doors opened at 3 p.m. at seven churches around town and the Mountain View Community Center. A couple spots closed early, low on food. Others had to hold up the line while trucks brought in more.

"I've spent the morning fluctuating between pride at what we and all our partners were able to accomplish and just sorrow that so many of our neighbors are worrying where their next meal is going to come from and needing to ask for help at Thanksgiving," Morgan said.

The group relies on 1,000 church volunteers from various faiths to distribute food at the Thanksgiving Blessing event, organizers said.

Families got a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, dinner rolls, a pie, whipped cream, vegetables, butter, 5-pound bags of organic apples from Oregon and potatoes from the Mat-Su donated by Valley farmers and the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm.

The Food Bank's freezers now are about 800 turkeys short for what will be needed for Christmas, but that's a problem for another day.

Find Lisa Demer at adn.com/contact/ldemer.