The spirit of Thanksgiving

They stood in a line nearly a block long, which wound its way through the Salvation Army Community Center in Spokane – a food distribution center for thousands on Tuesday.

Those in line waited for a free 11- to 12-pound turkey and a grocery sack full of stuffing, potatoes, onions, lettuce, bread, butter, broth, cranberries, fruit juice or maybe a pie while they lasted – staples for a day set aside to give thanks.

One could imagine a line like this, minus the hats and winter coats, in a converted Mississippi elementary school in the days following Katrina – volunteers turning out by the hundreds to direct traffic, check identification and distribute goods.

However, the need so evident in Spokane on Tuesday was not the result of a natural disaster, but a watershed of stagnant or declining wages amid increasing costs for health care, housing and energy.

Some of those who waited in line at the center, 222 E. Indiana, might be down on their luck this year. Many others, for whom their jobs cannot make ends meet, have come to depend on the annual turkey dinner giveaway as much as Thanksgiving Day itself.

It was Don Shipley’s first time in the turkey line. He only learned about it the day before. He and his sister, Shawna Warn, both in their 20s, were hoping to collect enough to feed their extended family of 12 on Thursday.

The communications technician said he had to turn down a job recently because he couldn’t afford to drive to the job site in Kennewick with gasoline prices near $3.20 a gallon. Even with a reimbursement rate of 25 cents per mile, the math didn’t work out for eight hours of work.

It was the sixth year in line for Tyrone Middleton, 55, who cannot work because of a disability. Once he cooked for his sons, who are now grown. Thursday, he will cook for friends.

“I got some families that are not doing so good, and I’m going to have them in,” Middleton said.

Leo Pike, 37, of Spokane, once stood in the line. On Tuesday, he and his wife, Michelle, 30, stood on the other side of the table, passing out turkeys.

“It makes you feel good helping people in need,” he said.

“I like to see the expression in their faces,” Michelle Pike said.

Among the estimated 250 volunteers who showed up to lend a hand Tuesday were nine employees of ACE Cash Express, one for each branch of the check-cashing and payday-lending company in the Spokane area.

An ACE employee said her company encourages “community commitment.”

The turkey giveaway is the result of a massive effort spearheaded by Rosauers, Second Harvest Food Bank and the KREM 2 Tom’s Turkey Drive, in which 6,700 $15 grocery bags with turkey were collected from donors last weekend.

By 5 p.m., the number of individuals served topped 7,500, including 2,500 families.

Also Tuesday, St. Vincent de Paul gave away nearly 2,000 turkey baskets to families who had signed up in advance.

“I think it is miraculous how the community continues to pull together in the face of growing numbers of people in need,” St. Vincent de Paul spokeswoman Lucinda Kay said.

Middleton, who knows what it is to receive and give, put it another way. “Thanksgiving is about the blessing we receive from our Lord through the kindness of others.”