Tom’s Turkey drive gathers nearly 500 holiday meals

A Colfax High School student dons the turkey costume outside of Rosauers Friday afternoon to remind people about the Tom’s Turkey drive.

The annual Tom’s Turkey drive was Friday and Saturday at the Colfax Rosauers, and the community was able to purchase 480 turkey bags to be distributed at Whitman County pantries for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“Not quite as many as last year, but we’ll end up with enough turkeys, hams and chickens,” said Paige Collins, executive director at Council on Aging. “But we’re also still accepting donations.”

The drive was Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Volunteers were on site during those times to remind shoppers to purchase the bags.

“We had more volunteers than ever, so that’s awesome,” said Collins, noting 12 volunteers helped out Friday – including some Colfax High School students – and 20 volunteers came for Saturday. “This is also the first year that almost all of our board was able to volunteer and be there.”

The bags include all the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner plus a turkey for $20. The 480 bags amounted to almost $10,000 in donations to the pantries.

“That’s a $10,000 investment in the community. That’s awesome,” said Collins.

The pantry was also able to purchase some chickens for Thanksgiving and Christmas with a $2,000 donation from Schweitzer Engineering, a $1,000 donation from the Thrifty Grandmothers and other smaller donations.

“Every time we’re looking for something, Colfax and Whitman come through, so we’re really thankful,” Collins commented.