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America First drive helps feed Utah’s needy for Thanksgiving

Posted at 6:54 PM, Oct 26, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-26 20:54:52-04

ROY, Utah – The Utah Food Bank picked up 400 turkeys and pallets of non-perishable food to give to Utahns in need of a Thanksgiving dinner. America First Credit Union’s eighth annual food drive came through with the donation.

With Thanksgiving less than a month away, the Utah Food Bank is getting a head start on helping needy families have a good Thanksgiving dinner.

“Starting now to prepare is very urgent because it takes a very long time to get the product from a donation like a day today to the actual dinner table. We can’t give the family a frozen turkey the day before Thanksgiving and have them enjoy that day. Starting very early is very important,” said Ginette Bott, chief marketing officer for the Utah Food Bank.

America First Credit Union holds the food drive every year. For the last six weeks, all of their branches, members and employees have been collecting food for the drive.

“It’s pretty exciting to see as an organization all of our employees and our members get involved and see the impact that we can have in just a few short weeks; the things we can do to help contribute to the people in need in the state,” said Nicole Cypers, PR and community outreach director for America First Credit Union.

America First says that over the last eight years, they’ve helped collect more than 76,000 pounds of food for donation to the Utah Food Bank.

The turkeys and other food products will be shipped out to food pantries across the state. The Utah Food Bank says there is no season, religion, age or gender for hunger, but fortunately Utah is a very giving environment.

“We recognized there are many in need. Our communities step up to the plate each time we call for help. But we have a large population of children, we have a huge population of senior citizens and we have many in between those two generations that are in need of help,” Bott said.

The food bank hopes to get at least 80,000 pounds of food by the end of the year.