Samaritan Healthcare to collect turkeys

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare’s goal for this year’s Turkey Drive is to have a turkey in every oven this Thanksgiving.

Residents can donate money, food or a turkey from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Safeway in Moses Lake. All food bought and donated is transferred to the Moses Lake Food Bank and distributed to families in Moses Lake and Warden during Thanksgiving week.

“We are expecting to serve around 1,400-1,500 families this Thanksgiving,” said Linda Finlay, Moses Lake Food Bank’s executive director.  “This event is just awesome; there is no way we could go out and buy this amount of food ourselves. It would take our entire year’s budget.”

Volunteers are stationed at both of Safeway’s doors during the drive. Samaritan hopes to receive 500 turkeys this year, said Connie Opheikens, Samaritan’s community relations coordinator.

Samaritan employees sent a solicitation letter in October to local businesses and regular contributors to the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation, asking for cash donations. About 36 people responded, allowing the hospital to collect a total of $6,500 to send to the food bank for the purchase of additional food.

“This event is great because it comes from the heart,” Opheikens said. “The community has kicked in and been really helpful.”

This is the ninth year the hospital has held the Turkey Drive. In past years they have donated 3,470 turkeys, 27,948 pounds of food and $7,988 to the food bank.

“This is a great way for Samaritan employees to get together and give back to our community,” Opheikens said. “The economy has put a real strain on many of our community members and we would like to help make Thanksgiving better for them.”

The food bank reported seeing a 23 percent increase in the number of families coming in for service this year. They currently provide food to an average of 184 families each day.

“We are hoping to reserve some large turkeys for our larger families, but to have small turkeys, ham and other meats for the smaller families,” Finlay said. “We want everyone who comes to us to walk away with some type of holiday meat and all the fixings.”

Food bank employees have taken the money already donated to purchase canned vegetables, stuffing mix and some turkeys.

“All the cash donated will really go a long ways,” Finlay said. “We are so excited about this event.”

Opheikens said the hospital could not put on the event without the help from sponsors.

“The partnership with Safeway and the support from other businesses including the Columbia Basin Herald, Signs Now and KDRM/KBSN Radio has resulted in our event becoming the largest food drive each year,” Opheikens said. “Given the difficult times, this year’s drive is all the more important.”

Safeway is located at 601 S. Pioneer Way Suite.

For more information, call 509-793-9645.