December 2006
If the holiday season wasn't already bad enough for turkeys, the Lloydminster Real Estate Board Association is about to make it that much worse.
But bad news for turkeys is good news for the Salvation Army food bank, which is set to get a big boost from the LREBA's annual turkey donation.
"It's something that we're very happy to be doing, something that we're happy to be able to do," said Kathy Harvey, president of the LREBA, adding the effort has run for the past 18 years. "It just helps to insure the people that are homeless or food bank clients will have a turkey on the table."
In mid-December, the group will be dropping off about 125 turkeys to the food bank in Lloydminster. As well, this year the group will also be making donations to the food banks in Wainwright and Vermilion.
Jackie Dearden, of the Salvation Army food bank, said the effort by the LREBA and other community groups and businesses will go a long way in meeting their demands.
"They've been faithful every year.we're getting stuff in steady and we're getting lots of promises that stuff will be dropped off from businesses, schools and Christmas parties that sort of thing."
Dearden said the levels of supply at the food bank are "on par" with recent years, but this year she said residents were in the giving mood a bit earlier.
"The one thing we really appreciated this year is that people began to give at the beginning of November," Dearden said.
During the Christmas season, Dearden said they will be packing between 300 and 400 hampers this year, which she said may still not be enough to give for everyone who could use one.
"There's a lot of people who think 'I'm working, I can manage' they're the ones who are usually worst off because they don't get a lot of the benefits that some other people get."
Dearden said there have been many new people using the food bank who have come to the community for work, but find themselves unable to make ends meet with the city's cost of living.
"There are very few what you would call "regulars" because you never know from year to year," she said. "There are some on the older end and others in a difficult situation healthwise."
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