This bag of food will help feed Fresno's neediest families. A food drive at River Park is Catholic Charities biggest event of the year. The hope is to fill up a semi truck with non-perishible food. It'll be redistributed almost as soon as it's collected.
“We serve about 230 individuals on a daily basis, and that's about 7,000 pounds of food,” said Jody Hudson, Catholic Charities Operations Manager.
Mary Vaux showed up on the first day of the drive with several bags of treats.
“I think there's a can of pineapple in there, green beans, olives, just a little bit of everything. Everybody needs a little bit of extra fun stuff for Thanksgiving,” said Vaux.
Speaking of Turkey Day, the Poverello House is 37 birds closer to its goal of getting 2,500 donated this season. AAA dropped off a crate full of turkeys on Thursday morning.
Turkey is our main staple in our kitchen throughout the whole year. We go through about 28 turkeys each week, cooked and served,” said Kathryn Weakland of the Poverello House.
Volunteers whip up breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Food is always in high demand and the center always accepts drop-off donations. It has a long way to go to reach its goal.
“I'm always very optimistic. I think I drive the staff crazy, but I believe we will get to the goal,” said Weakland.
Plenty of volunteers are already signed up to be at the Poverello House on Thanksgiving, but there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer on other days.
Catholic Charities is accepting donations at River Park until Sunday.
