This year’s annual Turkey Drive has exceeded expectations after it raised $91,065, seeing unprecedented generosity from the community.
All the money raised from the Turkey Drive will be split between the Cranbrook Salvation Army and the Food Bank.
“It’s overwhelming how generous this community is. I thank them all, it’s just amazing,” said Major Ginny Kristensen. “The half that the Salvation Army gets will go to help the Christmas hampers, it’ll help with the meals, we’re doing over 1,000 meals a week right now, we’re doing 120 school lunches per day and regular hampers and emergency assistance throughout the year. That’s where the money will go, it’ll fund us for many months.”
Jerry Oviatt said the funds will be appreciated, as the local Food Bank gets increasingly busy at this time of year.
“People are starting to come back, we’ve noticed our usage actually go up by about 25 to 30% in the last couple of months. I’m thinking that things are getting a little work out there than we considered before,” explained Oviatt.
Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce said the fundraiser was extended to one week, with an option for donating online.
The fundraiser saw more than 730 individual donations to the drive, including $2000 in turkeys courtesy of the local Save-On-Foods, a $3000 donation from Scotia Bank and a $3250 donation from Spruce Legal.
This year’s Chief Turkey, Steve Zsillei said the previous record was beaten by about $26,000.
“Our goal was $50,000 and the record was $65,000. I was starting to understand that we were close to the record, but to shatter everything was completely mind-blowing. Cranbrook has again come through with amazing colours,” said Zsillei.
Including this year’s total, the annual Turkey Drive has raised over $520,000 since it began 11 years ago.
“We are so incredibly pleased with the results of this year’s Turkey Drive,” said Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Helen Barron. “We are thankful to our celebrity pledgers for the hard work they put into this important event and to the amazing community we live in for rising to the occasion and taking care of their own in one of the most challenging years we have ever faced.”
The Turkey Drive has a series of celebrity pledgers who rival one another and compete to make the Drive a success.
“Our ‘Little Pluckers’ worked relentlessly to reach their goal. The citizens of Cranbrook and some from beyond, are truly amazing people, they blew my mind away with their generosity or should I not be surprised as this is what Cranbrook is,” said Barron.
While the rivalry is friendly, each little plucker is vying for the title of Chief Turkey and the Turkey Platter award.
This year’s Platter was presented to a newcomer to the Drive, Brandon Laurie. The Platter has been previously held by long time donor and supporter, Karin Penner, who has held the title for four consecutive years.
