In four days, the freezers of the Utah Food Bank went from empty to overflowing with Thanksgiving turkeys.
Where there was a single bird in the food bank's cavernous walk-in freezer Monday, now there are hundreds. Extra freezer space has been donated to hold all of the estimated 2,000 gobblers that have been carried in the door or backed onto the loading dock.Community response to the Food Bank's call for help has been so overwhelming that traffic outside the building has been jammed, said director Brenda Thompson.
"We're unloading as fast as we can, and we're all exhausted. It's wonderful," she said.
As a result, all of the low-income families in the Salt Lake area that have requested food assistance for the holiday will get a Thanksgiving turkey.
Even food pantries around the state, which generally distribute food delivered by Utah Food Bank, were pleased to get their own turkey donations after word of the bare freezers spread.
Utah legislators, meeting at the Capitol Tuesday, passed the hat to answer the crisis.
After coming up with $380, Sen. Charles Stewart and Sen. Leonard Blackham - who is a turkey grower in Moroni - challenged Norbest to match the collection. The company, which markets turkeys grown in the central Utah area, agreed, and Friday delivered 80 turkeys to the Utah Food Bank.
Other donations have helped as well, Thompson said.
Smith's Food Stores contributed 3,600 frozen pumpkin pies, and monetary contributions are putting the food bank in a good position to buy necessities for the next couple of months.
"The response has been tremendous," said Thompson. "We're going to be able to help more people than we ever have, but there's still a problem."
Some 5,000 Utah families request emergency-food help every month, she pointed out, "so donations always are welcome."