STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The volunteers at the Stroudsburg Wesleyan Church are busy prepping for food distribution day. Twice a month, they hand out bags of food to more than 250 families in need.
The bags also carry some of the fixings for the big Thanksgiving meal.
"They have the yams, apple pie stuff to make. We try to give them the stuff to make a full Thanksgiving meal," said food pantry manager Peter Mankin.
The star of every Thanksgiving table is the turkey, but food pantry volunteers say bird donations are way down.
"We try every holiday season to make sure every family who comes through here gets a turkey. Unfortunately, a couple of places that donate turkeys were not able to do it this year, so we find ourselves quite a bit of turkeys," explained Mankin.
The outdoor freezer has about 75 turkeys in it now, but staff say they are still short almost 200 birds.
Food pantry manager Peter Mankin says it may seem like a small thing, but to the families they help, it makes the holiday brighter.
"By being able to sit down at a holiday meal and have a turkey with all of the fixings and be around your family and have a good meal that gives people hope."
Donations can be dropped off at the church annex building on North 5th Street during office hours.