Brenda Kelek was walking by the North Auburn TOP Foods about 9 a.m. Saturday morning when she saw a long, ragged line of people and a lot of activity around some portable canopies.
What Kelek had stumbled upon was TOP Food & Drug’s second annual giveaway of hundreds of turkey dinners. And thanks to her discovery, Kelek and her three little girls will have their own Thanksgiving feast this year.
“For someone like me that’s in need, this really helps out a lot because I didn’t have a turkey for this Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for the helping hand,” Kelek said. “My girls don’t know about this yet, they’re still sleeping.”
Northwest Family Church, the Auburn TOP Food & Drug and the Auburn Food Bank launched the Community Big Give in Auburn last year. This year’s effort included the Federal Way TOP Food & Drug, Christian Faith Center of Federal Way and Open Life Church of Bonney Lake.
Store manager Kevin Ohler explained what it’s all about.
“It’s about community and helping people out,” said Ohler.
Ohler said a total of 800 dinners were given away, but 300 of them went to the Federal Way TOP Foods, which he involved this year.
“Last year we did about 400, and we doubled that this year,” Ohler said.
The birds alone cost $11,000, and the total cost, including the rest of the fixings, just at the Auburn location was about $25,000.
More than 100 volunteers, most from Northwest Family Church, showed up to lend a hand, helping people load their feasts-to-be into their carts and finally into their vehicles.
“Will it help, oh you just don’t know, you just don’t know,” said Patricia Clark, a volunteer at the Bonney Lake Food Bank and a turkey dinner recipient. “It’s the same for all of us here. If it weren’t for these people, a lot of us would have nothing. I think the old boy upstairs is who we ought to thank. You’ve got to thank him for these people here.”
Diana Alden was smiling.
“I am a descendant of the Mayflower. My late husband’s great grandfather was Sitting Bull, so this is wonderful,” Alden said.
The distribution went smoothly.
“It’s going well,” said Thad Huff, a member of Northwest Family Church and lead pastor of Open Life Church. “It’s like a well-oiled machine of volunteers. A lot of these people here today just wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving meal if it weren’t for this.
One woman said her biggest challenge now is finding a way to cook the dinner, so you know that the need is real. You can see by the looks on their faces that they are humble, grateful and very appreciative. It’s awesome,” Huff said.
