PORT TOWNSEND — For the seventh consecutive year, Arrow Lumber &Hardware of Port Townsend has donated 400 turkeys to the Jefferson County Food Bank in Port Townsend to distribute for Thanksgiving dinners.
At 10:30 a.m. Monday, seven Arrow Lumber employees arrived at the food bank at Mountain View Commons, 1925 Blaine St., with a truck full of frozen turkeys and moved them into the food bank where they will be picked up by area families Wednesday.
“They provided the muscle to move all the turkeys in here,” said Food Bank Manager Shirley Moss. “They made short work of it.”
Aside from the turkeys, the food bank also has 1,200 pounds of produce donated from Walmart that they picked up in Sequim late last week as well as the donations that have come in from the community, according to Moss.
“I’ve been putting aside special things, like sparkling juices, walnuts and dark chocolate, to hand out as a special holiday treat,” Moss said.
The turkey donation is an annual contribution by Arrow Lumber to the food bank and one that has become a tradition, according to Moss.
“The owner says this is probably going to be his legacy,” Moss said.
“This is really important to him and it’s not about PR [public relations]. It’s about giving back to the community.”
Moss said Arrow Lumber owner Barney Wagner, does a donation like this in every town with an Arrow Lumber location. Similar donations were made to food banks in Eatonville, Buckley, Port Orchard, Orting and Randle.
The turkeys will be handed out to families Wednesday, which Moss said is consistently the food bank’s busiest day of the year.
“There are some people who use us just for Thanksgiving,” Moss said. “For them, they wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving dinner if it wasn’t for us.”
Moss said the food bank expects to feed roughly 400 local families leading up to the Thursday holiday.
“We’ve been going to stores five days a week to prepare for this week,” Moss said.
The food bank will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to distribute the turkeys and fixings.
The food bank has been distributing from that location for more than five years and now has 90 consistent volunteers.
“No one gets paid so people who donate can know that their money goes toward purchasing food,” Moss said.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
