Thanksgiving could look different for those relying on food banks this year

ORLANDO, Fla. - Three empty box trucks backed up to the Second Harvest Food Bank Central Florida and left loaded with turkeys Friday morning. 

"No one should go without food. It’s even more important on Thanksgiving," said Eric Schreck, Trustco Bank Florida Regional President.  

He and several employees loaded boxes of frozen turkeys onto those trucks.  Those trucks are going to three different food banks around Central Florida: One Heart, Serenity’s Grace, and the Picnic Project. 

"Being able to get this, this early, and get it out the door to people really makes a difference," Schreck said.

This comes an ideal time, with the high price of turkeys this year.  Last year Gregg Higgerson says Second Harvest Food Bank Central Florida was paying about a dollar a pound for turkey.  This year, it’s significantly more.  

"For us, which is not the same as what you’ll see in the stores, for us it’s about $1.70 per pound.  So that’s pretty difficult for us to get our hand on enough of that and get it out to the community."

And he says they’re having issues finding some Thanksgiving staples. 

"Turkey, boxes of instant potatoes, even stuffing have been a little harder to come by because of supply chain issues," Higgerson said. 

He’s thankful that Trustco was able to buy and secure these 1000 turkeys for them to get out to food banks.  But he’s afraid for some people they’re giving holiday meals to, they’ll look a little different this year because of supply issues and higher prices.  

"Maybe use a different protein, some chicken or some ham instead of traditional turkey," Higgerson said.

Second Harvest Food Bank Central Florida has had twice the amount of requests for help since the start of the pandemic. 

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