With the 9th Annual Kent Turkey Challenge coming to a close, it marks a cumulative total of more than $175,000 and 65,000 pounds of food raised over the past nine years.
To help feed families during Thanksgiving, Torklift Central and the participating businesses for the Kent Turkey Challenge helped the Kent Food Bank during the holiday season.
“We are grateful to host the Kent Turkey Challenge and see the outpouring of the community’s generous donations,” said Torklift Central owner Jack Kay. “We are incredibly humbled by the amount of donations we’ve helped collect over the past nine years.”
One hundred percent of the donations go to the Kent Food Bank. For every $10 donation, the Food Bank reports it can feed a family of four for four days. This year, the Kent Food Bank reported they were able to feed hundreds of families and give them full Thanksgiving meals.
Top five local monetary donors are Eberle Vivian with $4,415, Pacific Power Group with $3,355, Pegasus Northwest Inc. with $1,875, Chateau at Valley Center, residents and employees with $1,775 and Kent United Methodist Church with $1,190. Torklift Central provided up to $315 in matching donations to each of the top five donators.
Top five winners of food donations are Grass Lake Elementary School with 1,863 items, Seattle/Tacoma KOA with 1,791 items, Kent CrossFit with 1,172 items, Anytime Fitness with 448 items and Blinker Tavern with 436 items.
“The Annual Kent Turkey Challenge is a wonderful drive bringing together our community to provide holiday food for hundreds of families each year,” added Jeniece Choate, Executive Director of the Kent Food Bank. “Because of the drive and its success, the Kent Food Bank has been able to eliminate pre-registration and can sign families up during the food distribution days.
Before the drive began nine years ago, the food bank distributed mostly canned food items and very few turkeys. Now they have fresh produce, butter, milk, eggs and turkeys for everyone.
To see the complete list of business donations for the 9th Annual Kent Turkey Challenge, visit https://torkliftcentral.com/turkey.
Photos courtesy Torklift.
