Only two days into November, Anita Dusterhoft had her Thanksgiving dinner sorted.
Dusterhoft, of Weirsdale, walked out of the Christian Food Pantry of Lady Lake last week with a frozen turkey and a brown paper bag filled with all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving meal — from stuffing to canned cranberry sauce.
Without the donated goods from the food pantry, Dusterhoft said, the holiday likely would have come and gone just like any other day.
“It’s just a blessing that they provide this for people like us,” she said.
In order to provide for those who may not be able to provide for themselves during the holiday season, local food pantries rely on food and fund drives to keep shelves stocked. And pantry coordinators say at this time of year, pantries go beyond the basics of canned goods and loaves of bread. Thousands of pounds of donated Thanksgiving dinner staples, including hundreds of turkeys, will be handed out across the tri-county area between now and the fourth Thursday in November.
“They’re very needed services that we certainly couldn’t provide without the help of this community,” said Carrol Neal, director of the Christian Food Pantry.
Shifting Into Drive
A troop of uniformed local Boy Scouts took to the streets Nov. 4 in the historic part of The Villages, passing out plastic bags for the group’s annual food collection drive. Donations left bagged up at the end of driveways Saturday will be taken to the shelves of the Christian Food Pantry just in time for the holiday rush.
In previous years, Neal said, the Boy Scouts have dropped off about 1,500 bags of food.
“It teaches (the boys) a whole lot of things,” said Suzy Sharp, committee chairwoman for Boy Scout Pack 244 in Lady Lake. “ It’s about giving back to the community and being a part of giving back to other people.”
On Sunday, MVP Athletic Club in Brownwood hosted a food drive dressed up as a Zumba class, with canned goods as the cost of admission. Instructor Tricia Lahmann said nearly 100 residents attended, with donations spilling over the top of a folding table. The gym will keep collecting nonperishables through Nov. 13, when employees will take the donations to the Wildwood Food Pantry.
“People who are blessed realize other people may not be as blessed as they are,” Lahmann said. “And it doesn’t cost that much to add a little something extra, but it adds up to a lot.”
Last week, Lady Lake Smiles Dentistry braced itself for a deluge of donations as part of its food drive for the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church Food Pantry in Wildwood. The dental office is collecting canned goods through Nov. 30.
“It’s tough around this time of year for people,” said Drew Flowers, benefits coordinator at the office. “When the holidays come around, you want to try to do the best you can to help people have the best holiday they can.”
Neighbors Team Up
Last year, neighbors from the Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores collected $9,000 and used the money to fill 240 bags of food to donate to the Wildwood Food Pantry the week before Thanksgiving.
On Nov. 1, the neighbors were well on their way to topping last year’s donation, fund drive coordinator Ron Renna said, with $8,965 already collected.
The neighborhood drive started eight years ago, Renna said, with the group collecting donations before heading out to purchase turkeys and Thanksgiving trimmings in bulk to hand out at the food pantry the week before the holiday.
The neighbors offer handshakes and hugs to those they serve in Wildwood and it’s an emotional time for everyone, Renna said.
“It bring tears to your eyes many times. They come give us hugs. They’re so thankful to get a turkey and to get all the fixings,” Renna said. “… Knowing that these people are going to go home and the next week have a full Thanksgiving meal with their family, it’s such an incredible feeling.”
Renna said his group will continue to take donations through Nov. 15.
Nearby in the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Sumter, a fund drive among neighbors raises enough money to provide turkeys for all 400 families the Christian Food Pantry will serve during the month of November.
Jim Stencel, who helps coordinate the Lake Sumter drive, said he and his 224 neighbors have raised $8,000 already this year. That money is donated to Second Harvest Food Pantry in Orlando, which will deliver the turkeys and Thanksgiving trimmings to the pantry next week.
“It’s been a great program and the people have been great at supporting it,” Stencel said. “And people are getting fed who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.”
Feeding The Need
Don Huggins, coordinator of the Wildwood Food Pantry, said the pantry will pass out nearly 17,000 pounds of food the Friday before Thanksgiving, making it the pantry’s busiest day of the year.
“The need doesn’t increase, the need is there all the time,” he said. “It’s just that at the holidays it’s always nice to give a little extra.”
On Monday morning, Huggins said the pantry felt like Grand Central Station with an army of volunteers sorting and stocking a weekend’s worth of donations from four local churches. Fairway Christian Church alone, he said, dropped off 170 banana boxes full of goods.
Carrol Neal, from the Christian Food Pantry, said budgets can tighten quickly over the holidays as people’s wallets are pulled in so many different directions. Providing a full Thanksgiving meal, she said, helps take one thing off their plate.
“It takes the pressure off, with everything that comes around the end of the year … It’s an expensive time of year,” Neal said. “It’ just nice that you can relieve one burden.”
Sarah Wilson is a senior writer with The Villages Daily Sun. She can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5401, or sarah.wilson@thevillagesmedia.com.
