Two organizations intend to distribute thousands of meals throughout the Thanksgiving holiday. Turkeys Tackling Hunger and Operation Turkey will be feeding families during the week of Thanksgiving.
Turkeys Tackling Hunger has been operating in San Marcos for 11 years. Local families in need or anyone who is food insecure can register with the organization to receive access to Thanksgiving meals.
Mallory Best, communications coordinator for the Hays County Food Bank, said finished up all holiday meal box distributions on Friday, Nov. 17th.
“We packed 2,000 meal boxes in total,” Best said.
The event will be run on a volunteer basis. It will mostly depend on large groups from organizations seeking volunteer opportunities. Turkeys Tackling Hunger will be distributing in several locations throughout Hays County.
“We do one in Dripping, one in Wimberley, two in San Marcos, two in Kyle, one in Buda and one (at the food bank itself),” Best said. “It’s a very local thing. We take all of it on ourselves.”
Similarly, Operation Turkey is a larger organization operating in multiple states and will be working alongside Turkeys Tackling Hunger to provide meals to the people of San Marcos.
Jesse Ruiz, project manager of Operation Turkey San Marcos, said the organization will be contributing approximately 1,000 hot meals to the cause.
“(Turkeys Tackling Hunger) is a great service, but they can only distribute so many,” Ruiz said. “We will be picking up where they leave off. I was a Texas State student myself, so it’s a way to give back to a community that gave me opportunity.”
Ruiz said a goal for Operation Turkey is to reach students who may be homeless or in similar difficult situations.
“I’m hoping that we can be able to reach the student population who is in need or are homeless,” Ruiz said. “I know it exists, unfortunately, and if we can reach them, even if it’s just one day, it’s one day less that they have to go without a meal.”