It’s time for a turkey roundup

Here’s a task: Dispense 5,000 frozen turkeys to more than a dozen counties separated by hundreds of miles of roads.

The turkeys must be transported in refrigerated trucks – too warm and you run the risk of bacteria. You must coordinate the deliveries to various food banks timed to clients’ arrival. You must budget the cost of gasoline – $2 a gallon – for a fleet of 14 trucks.

But first, of course, you need turkeys.

“I have that panic several times in the middle of the night – what if we don’t get the turkeys this year,” said Barbara Bennett, head of the Valley Food Bank. “But I don’t think it will happen.”

There is an inevitable stress to a Thanksgiving food drive. In a few all-too-brief weeks, organizers must locate thousands of turkeys to satisfy a growing client list.

On Monday, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Inland Northwest – which provides food to centers in Washington, Idaho and Montana – had fewer than 100 turkeys in storage. It expects to need 5,000 by next week to supply food banks like Bennett’s.

“This is our big weekend,” said Jason Clark, the nonprofit’s executive director. “It always comes down to the last few days.”

Even though Washington’s unemployment rate has dipped slightly in the past year, the region’s network of food banks report that demand remains as high as ever.

In a survey last week, Second Harvest reported serving more than 16,000 clients every month in Spokane County. Nine out of 10 clients earned less than $11,450 a year, and nearly half the clients are children.

At Coeur d’Alene’s Community Action Partnership Food Bank, only 20 percent of the clients receive a Thanksgiving basket.

Mark Haberman, the food bank’s manager, said he doesn’t have the storage space or staff to dispense turkeys to the 4,000 families his center serves each year. Thus far, the center has received 280 donated turkeys, in addition to 300 the center purchased. That’s still well below the 800 turkeys the staff hopes to hand out.

Haberman said the center purchases the turkeys ahead of time because, “People tend to think about Thanksgiving in the last week or so.”

The pressure remains on working families, the food banks reported.

At the Valley Food Bank, Bennett said even among those with jobs, many have had their hours cut.

“There are days when the employers call and say, ‘We don’t need you today,’ ” Bennett said. “A day without pay can really stress a family.”

Second Harvest’s survey found a surprising fact: The number of unemployed clients rose from 29 percent last year to 49 percent this year – despite signs of an improving economy.

“Every year, it gets a little harder,” Bennett said. “As soon as the food comes in, I give it away.”

In the Valley food center, many of the shelves sit empty. Nearly 700 families have signed up for Thanksgiving assistance. To date, the food bank has only 11 turkeys.

At St. Vincent de Paul’s food drive last Friday, only 35 turkeys were collected.

“It was really sad,” said Matthew Meeusen, operations manager for St. Vincent. “People just didn’t show up.”

The food bank has about 1,000 turkeys but expects to need to serve 5,000 families.