KAPA‘A — Kelvin Moniz watched as the Safeway forklift driver negotiated more than six pallets of turkeys into the waiting Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank truck, Monday.
“We bought about 900 turkeys to help feed the hungry for Thanksgiving,” said Moniz, KIFB operations manager. “This is more than last year when we could only afford to buy about 500 turkeys.”
Distribution of the holiday turkeys will take place at numerous locations island-wide on Thursday, although Moniz said some may go out a little later.
Despite the amount which is almost double from that purchased last year, Moniz said they are still in need of more birds.
“Right now, we’re at least 16 turkeys short,” he said. “But by the end of the week, we anticipate a shortage of about 50 turkeys.”
The purchase of turkeys from Safeway coincides with the arrival of Thanksgiving and the holidays and highlights the need for support for the KIFB Holiday Food and Fund Drive which runs through Dec. 15.
“Sunday we got a contribution from the Hawai‘i Children’s Theater for about 380 pounds of food,” Moniz said. “That came from the ‘Peter Pan’ production going on. The HCT did a drive where half was contributed to the Salvation Army and half to the KIFB. All told, they collected more than 700 pounds of food — in one weekend!”