Catholic Community Services' Holiday Turkey Drive is under way

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015

 OGDEN — Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah has a goal of collecting 2,600 turkeys between November and December to ensure that families in need are able to enjoy holiday meals.

Each year, CCS provides about 1,400 Thanksgiving baskets for families in need in the Ogden area, said Marcie Valdez, CCS Northern Utah director. For Christmas, CCS will provide an additional 1,200 turkeys and hams for holiday baskets. 

“Some of these families are regular clients of the food bank, but we also accept referrals from 

partners such as the Community Action Program and the Salvation Army,” said Valdez. “Having a holiday meal means so much to these families. It’s difficult for families in poverty who are struggling every day to put food on their tables to think about the holidays, it can be overwhelming.”

This season, Colosimo Sausage will donate 100 turkeys, as they did last year, said Danielle Stamos, CCS public relations and marketing director. “We hope this will inspire other businesses and individuals in the community to donate an extra turkey. We often don’t think about it until Thanksgiving is here, but there are many families who will go without, and people can change that by making a donation.”

Colosimo Sausage has made donating 100 turkeys an annual tradition, said Joe Colosimo, owner. “A couple of years ago we lost our young nephew, Adam [Colosimo], and that really put us in touch with trying to pay it forward. We feel like it is our responsibility; we’ve had good fortune in our lives and there are people out there that are not as fortunate and we are always willing to lend a hand and share the wealth a little bit, and try to be good people in the community to make sure we do our part to help out.”

To fill out the Thanksgiving baskets, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will provide additional food to complete the meal, such as canned beans and corn, eggs, butter, stuffing mix and potatoes. CCS will also team up with United Way of Northern Utah, which also contributes food items, Valdez said.

During the Christmas basket give-away, Great Salt Lake Minerals provides the additional baskets, said Valdez. 

“We rely on the community, and we are primarily asking people to help us collect turkeys and hams,” Valdez said. “There are several ways they can do that. We would like to connect with businesses who give turkeys to their employees for the holidays; perhaps those employees could donate the turkeys to those in need, or corporations and businesses who have the ability could donate several turkeys to CCS. Those big donations give us the lead we need to serve as many families as we do. Individuals can also bring turkeys to our food bank in Ogden, or simply send cash donations and we will purchase the turkeys.” 

Each year, St. Joseph Elementary School in Ogden has a turkey drive for CCS called “A Buck A Bird,” Valdez said. “They encourage their students to bring in change, or any cash donation they can afford, and the money is pooled together. The St. Joseph students’ donation typically brings us about 100 turkeys.” 

The Thanksgiving holiday food baskets will be distributed Nov. 20 and Nov. 23-24.  

Donations of turkeys or other holiday food will be accepted at the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank, 2504 F Ave., Ogden, during normal business hours; or at United Way of Northern Utah, 2955 Harrison Blvd., Ogden on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.