St. Matthew’s House hosts turkey giveaway ahead of Thanksgiving

St. Matthew’s House is making sure families in need have a feast on Thanksgiving Day.

The organization expects this year’s food giveaway to be their biggest yet.

Hope for the holidays. It’s something so many in Southwest Florida could use as Thanksgiving approaches.

“It’s like, either, do I either buy food for the month? Or do I pay my bills,” said Deana Conley.

The organization is hosting its Hope for the Holidays turkey distribution this week in partnership with Capital Wealth Advisors Group.

The goal is to feed 6,000 families across Lee, Collier and Hendy counties.

Lines wrapped around the side of the road outside of Immokalee Friendship House on Wednesday.

“They’re relying on us to put the Thanksgiving meal on the table tonight,” said Ana Estrella, director of Immokalee Friendship House.

Each family will get almost $200 worth of food.

“Receiving everything from turkeys to eggs to a whole pie,” Estrella said.

Alexia Arvelo said she has a family of seven.

“Me and my husband and my kids, three boys and very, they eat a lot. So we recently just moved and we’re not working at the moment, we’re looking for employment. So this was a great help to help us with the holidays coming around,” Arvelo said.

Ashley Gonzalez is a stay-at-home wife and mom whose husband place of work was flooded during Ian.

“We came here for some help, we wouldn’t really have much of a Thanksgiving otherwise,” Gonzalez said.

“They are here since five o’clock in the morning. If they wouldn’t need this turkey, they would not be here since five o’clock in the morning. So I know that it’s a great need here,” Estrella said.

More than 650 families were served in Immokalee on Wednesday. On Thursday, they expect to serve 2,000 more families in Naples.

To find out where St. Matthews House will be handing out turkeys, click here.