Second Harvest hosts its 15th Annual Turkey Day

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Thanksgiving is the time of year to be surrounded by family and friends at the dinner table for a feast. A day that isn't the same without staples like turkey and sides containing produce.

The St. Joseph Second Harvest Community Food Bank is taking the initiative to make sure the community is fed for the holiday.

Thursday marked the 15th Annual Turkey Day that the food bank has hosted, in which registered community members receive a turkey day box containing food for Thanksgiving.

"We're expecting about 750 people. That's how many we registered...As you can see by the line of cars, you can just really tell that the need is absolutely there," said Second Harvest Marketing Manager Mackenzie Bally.

For the past fifteen years, the food bank has been supplying food for families during Thanksgiving.

“You know, I got four kids, so, you know, it helps feed them," said Richard Swadley, one of Second Harvest's recipients.

Turkey Day is all about the community coming together to lend a hand to those in need. The Stroud family was eager to once again participate this year.

“It's to help the community. We have been doing this for, I don't know, ten years, I would say so. This is just an annual event that our team loves to do, to give back to the community," said Ashley Stroud, a volunteer.

With all the food being donated, there isn't any worry about any leftovers going to waste for the holiday. According to Bally, all leftover food will be donated to local schools.

"Every once in a while, there will be a handful of turkeys that don't get picked up, and those will go to our campus cupboard for them, which are pantries within the middle high school and college campuses," said Bally.

The holiday season is an overall good reminder about what matters most: being surrounded by family and friends with a meal.