Turkey Drive

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Robert’s men’s group, EBNOM, (The East Bay Nation of Men) held their annual turkey drive at the Neighborhood House of North Richmond. For 20 years they have been organizing this volunteer effort where they raise money and labor to provide Thanksgiving dinners for families in need. The locations of the drive vary with last two being held at the senior center. For as little as $15 they are able to provide dinner for a family of four. This is due in large part to the connections to food vendors that several of the organizers have. Given the current economic climate, this year I have been looking more actively for ways to help out my community, so I eagerly agreed to donate money and time.

We arrived before 8am in the morning and I was tasked with coordinating the effort to divide the fresh produce equally for 500 families. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many potatoes and yams in one place! There were 25 boxes of sweet potatoes and 70 – 50lb bags of potatoes! I was glad to see that they were giving away some fresh produce rather than all boxed and canned goods. There was also some fresh broccoli and onions, just not enough for all 500 bags. It definitely seemed like a daunting task – to evenly divide so much food – but we were armed with a room full of willing participants and quickly got an informal assembly line going.

Often around this time of year, the discussion about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams comes up – as it did for us. Varying explanations are offered, with most thinking the color is what differentiates them. However, according to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission what we call yams, orange sweet potatoes, are actually just a different variety of sweet potato. Apparently there are several hundred types of sweet potatoes! Technically, a true yam is rough and scaly and typically imported from the Carribean. We started using the term yam in order to differentiate the orange ones grown in the south.*

In the large hall there were cans of cranberries, corn and green beans, boxes of stuffing of stuffing, and bags of fresh Acme bread. The turkeys were a little late in arriving because one of the men had truck troubles - he eventually found another working truck. It was quite impressive seeing the full truck back in with the delivery of 500 turkeys. Before giving out the meals around 10am, the volunteers and staff gathered in one large circle to give thanks; for the donations, for the organizing help and for all the good things and people in our lives.

It was a very orderly affair – the people in line were patient and the volunteers organized. As not all of the families spoke English, interpreters were available to help out. Lots of enthusiastic kids were both picking up meals and helping give out the items. People signed up in advance for a free meal; however there was still enough for others who hadn’t pre-registered after those with tickets picked up their meals. We were done just before noon. Seeing all the happy faces and meeting so many enthusiastic people made me feel like I was gaining more than I was giving. I definitely plan to participate next year.

* This discussion is reminiscent of how we came to call bison “buffalo” since they looked liked similar creatures to the ones the settlers had in Europe – but once it was discovered that they are very different and new term, bison, was needed – but by then the word buffalo stuck and we still use the term interchangeably in North America.