The warehouse at the Turlock Fruit Company has been bustling with activity every night this week and will continue to be all of next week leading up to the annual Turlock Together food box giveaway on Dec. 20.
On Thursday night, students from Keyes to Learning Charter School were working hard to sort barrels of canned food that was donated by community members through the campaign’s iconic blue barrels.
KTL high school student Katie Joy said she’s been volunteering with Turlock Together every holiday season since she was in third grade.
“I think it’s a really cool way to serve the community, especially in times where food can be hard to be accessible. I think it’s easy to think about the whole world, but it’s really important to serve where you’re at currently,” she said.
The KTL students were just a dozen of the hundreds of volunteers who will help make the food box giveaway possible this year, said warehouse manager Jeff Lorenzi.
Lorenzi himself started out as a canned food sorting volunteer two decades ago and now he’s in charge of coordinating all the volunteers and get things up and running to fill two boxes of food for 1,200 families.
“We appreciate all the help when the community comes together to do something like this. I’ve got friends who live throughout the state, and they’re really surprised by this because they don’t see it in their towns, something like this going on where the United Samaritans, Salvation Army, Central Valley Realtors, the schools, churches, everybody coming together as one to serve the community,” said Lorenzi. “It’s a really nice effort. And the biggest thing is hopefully to see this going on for another 20 some years.”
The holiday food boxes are in high demand this year, said Turlock Together coordinator Linda Murphy-Julien.
“We had to close down applications last Friday because we were already at the 1,200 mark. And that’s what we budgeted for,” she said.
Murphy-Julien said that a large donation from the Central Valley Association of Realtors is paying for approximately two-thirds of the perishable items Turlock Together will purchase for the food boxes, such as milk, cheese and chicken.
In previous years, the Turlock Together food boxes also included toys for young children. This year, however, the Salvation Army decided to take on the toy side altogether. Approximately 500 families signed up to receive toys and they will pick them up at the Salvation Army next week.
“They get to shop for their children this year in our gym at their appointment scheduled time. We have been working with several organizations and individuals around town for toy drives and have an abundance of toys for these families,” said Turlock Salvation Army Captain Katie Breazeale. “This gives the parents an opportunity to shop for their children. We feel that it will empower them more and feel like they are actually picking out toys their children want.”
The Salvation Army is expecting another large donation today when the United Motorcycle Clubs of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties roll into town with 3,000 toys for children in need.
It’s not too late to volunteer to help with Turlock Together. For more information on helping to sort and pack food boxes, contact Lorenzi at 209-620-6608. For information on how to volunteer with the Salvation Army toy give away, call 209-667-6091.
