It was a cold day Nov. 25, with the temperature in the high 20s and snow falling on and off. The frozen turkeys were not in jeopardy of thawing out as the line of cars stretched far out of the driveway of Hesed House, and drivers in need picked up a total of 1,700 turkeys with all the trimmings for this holiday.

“I’m not sure if they’ve ever had to think about them thawing out. It’s always cold for the turkey giveaway,” said Ryan Craig, who manned the turkey drive through.

He said he and his bird slinging partner, Eddie Galvan, volunteered this year to help the community and give back.

“It’s not cold as long as you’re moving,” said Craig, who shuffled a few nice frozen gobblers into a minivan while Galvan delivered a box containing everything needed for a family Thanksgiving dinner.

Cars stretched a half mile down River Street, with Aurora police cadets directing traffic. Drivers were happy to wait the 20 minutes in line to get a turkey.

“We’re busy like this all day. Cars coming in all day long. The demand is greater than supply, but every year we try to provide more,” said Maureen Gasek, Development Assistant of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.

The turkeys were dropped off by semi trucks from the Northern Illinois Food Bank and unloaded early Monday morning. The bags filled with potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread and other Thanksgiving foods were assembled by volunteers ahead of time. The whole holiday giveaway is funded by community donors.

“We’ll have 1,000 families come through just today,” said Marilyn Weisner, executive director of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, who said the snow and freezing temperatures didn’t slow anyone down.

“We have really great volunteers, everyone is working really hard and happy to serve all the people coming through today. We really have to thank the community, the money to purchase these turkeys from the food bank comes from the community, and we are grateful,” said Weisner.

The Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry is always accepting food donations. Currently, hot or cold breakfast cereal is in critical need, along with pancake mix, baking mixes, canned tuna or chicken, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and all size diapers.
Donations can be brought to the Pantry Office from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday thru Friday at 1110 Jericho Rd. in Aurora.