KJCT8.com - Grand Junction, Montrose - Weather, News, Sports | Volunteers deliver 150 turkeys to families

Volunteers deliver 150 turkeys to families

BY SARA GOLDENBERG
SGOLDENBERG@KJCT8.COM

GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT) -- Every day, many families around the Grand Valley struggle to put food on the table. While many of us wonder what kind of presents the holidays will bring, others worry where they'll find their next meal.

Thanks to the generosity of one local church, some families won't have to worry about Thanksgiving this year. We tagged along with one family as they delivered turkeys to some unsuspecting homes.

Thanksgiving is just five days away and now some families won't go hungry on turkey day. Volunteers stocked their cars full of turkeys on Saturday and passed them out for their annual turkey trot.

"We go into neighborhoods that are struggling and just knock on doors, and ask them if they could use a turkey for this thanksgiving season," said Kevin Platte, the pastor at Connection Church.

The families are chosen at random, making the gift of giving a surprise. "It's a relief for a lot of families. They're struggling these days, and maybe they didn't know how they were gonna be able to have a turkey on the table," Platte said.

Connection Church has given away turkeys to needy families for five years now. This year, 150 families will have a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, thanks to their generosity.

"It's just an outreach for our church, a way for us to affect people's lives, especially those families that are struggling," Platte said.

Thomas Chacon and his family have been delivering turkeys for turkey trot for five years. "It's just amazing to see some people get so excited to have something to eat this Thanksgiving holiday," Chacon said. He says his kids get just as excited.

"It teaches them that we are blessed, with work and a place to live. And I think it teaches them that we're blessed so that we can give to others," Chacon said.

No matter what language you speak, the expressions of gratitude are universal.

"It's just great fun being able to see the expressions on people's faces. It's wonderful, it's a wonderful thing," Chacon said.

"It's an all around good thing. For the people that get the turkeys and the people that give away the turkeys," Platte said.

Connection Church collected donations to buy the turkeys over the last few weeks to make it possible to feed 150 hungry families.