Volunteers prepare annual turkey drop to feed SWFL families in need on Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just over a week away and many families still hurting after Hurricane Ian, more than 100 volunteers are gathering in Naples to ensure people in need have food to celebrate the holiday.

2,000 families will be able to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year, thanks to the 18th annual Hope for the Holidays turkey drop from St. Matthew’s House. The meals will be distributed to low-income families, senior citizens, veterans and people with disabilities. Each family will get about $175 worth of food.

People will receive a 10- to 16-pound turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, vegetables, eggs, pumpkin pie—all the thanksgiving essentials. Volunteers from Capital Wealth Advisors and St. Matthew’s House will load up meal boxes to be distributed later to families in need at six different food distribution sites throughout Southwest Florida.

“We’re really trying to focus on just, you know, areas that are in need, so we’re going into Collier County, we’ll be in Lee County, we’re in LaBelle, we’re in Alva,” said Lorna McLain with St. Matthew’s House. “And then we’re also helping out those other agencies that maybe are trying to help those families that might need a turkey or sides that day as well.”

McLain says the need in our community is growing, so the organization is working to help as many people as possible all year long; including the turkey drop, St. Matthew’s House aims to feed 6,000 families by the end of 2022.

“Our distributions haven’t stopped,” McLain said. “I mean, our distributions that normally would be 100, 200 families have tripled at this point. So I expect, like I said, the same for, probably, for our Hope for the Holidays distributions. If anything, they will double in size. I’m expecting that, for sure.”

Those volunteers will start packing up the meals on Monday, but the dates and times for the distributions themselves can be found listed here.