Turkey Drive
Supporting house of friendship's
christmas food program
Over 20 years feeding families in our region
The Turkey Drive was started 20 years ago by Barry Abelson and Jim Erb, two members of the Kitchener-Conestoga Rotary Club. The original project was designed to spread the goodwill of the Christmas season and share a few turkey dinners with needy families in the community.
The partnership with the House or Friendship started in 2006 when we realized the HoF could reach more people than our 50 members.
The program quickly grew to include a hamper of food along with a turkey for over 1,000 families. In the current program, there are options that have dinners with protein other than Turkey, but we keep the name in honour of the original idea.
Today, over 20 years later, the annual campaign raises over $440,000 and provides dinner for 4,600 households or 16,000 people.
Your support of our fund-raising campaign and the passionate work by the House of Friendship helps to address what is called a “Food Insecurity” issue facing many in Canada, including in our region. Click Research Report from the University of Toronto to see their research report about Food Insecurity.
Listen to what the folks at House of Friendship have to say about the program:
A year-round effort
by staff, volunteers and you
The benefit happens at Christmas, but the campaign and activities are active year-round.
When the time comes, people volunteer for packing, delivering, handing out food, and many other activities.
It may not be a glorious volunteer job, but it is certainly rewarding – even with a pandemic and even in the cold.
And in the end, the volunteers are glad to have participated – and the recipients are glad they did.
