Juanita Garcia was smiling today as she walked toward the table loaded with frozen turkeys, bags of potatoes and other Thanksgiving trimmings.
“This is enabling us to have a dinner because I am living on child support,” said Garcia, 42, who has a 2-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son.
Garcia’s is one of 1,250 low-income families to receive a Thanksgiving meal — “a banquet in a box” — that included everything from the bird to pumpkin-pie filling, stuffing and instant gravy.
The food distribution at the Crossing, a homeless shelter on Smith Road, is an annual outreach event for the Denver Rescue Mission, and today’s was the largest food-box distribution in the group’s history.
About 30 volunteers were on hand to help. “I’m just giving back to the community,” said Tim Powell, who was packing potatoes into bags, which were put in wagons along with a 5-pound turkey and other food. A volunteer pulled each wagon and helped families load the contents into their cars.
“I live in senior, subsidized housing, and there are three or four elderly ladies I am cooking for, so this really means a lot,” said a woman who would identify herself only as Luann.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
