By Mike Hazlip—
Volunteers with the Sunrise Christian Food Ministry on Thursday handed out hundreds of turkey dinners to families in need outside Advent Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights.
Organizer Rocky Peterson estimated the organization had over 2,000 turkeys along with canned vegetables, cranberries, and other trimmings. Peterson said about 50 vehicles were present at any given time throughout the morning hours Thursday.
He said Raley’s donated the majority of the canned items through the Sacramento Food Bank.
“It’s totally amazing,” Peterson said. “They gave enough dry supplies, canned supplies for us for 1,200 families. And that is the same to other food closets also. It’s more than sufficient, more than generous.”
Peterson said the food bank is seeing an overall increase of about 20% over last year in families coming to the organization for food. He said there is about a 10% to 12% increase in new families this year.
Volunteer Supervisor Donna Wager said the volunteers get identification from each family as they move through the line to receive a turkey. Workers kept traffic moving through the four lines of vehicles throughout the morning, she said.
Volunteers included a group of about 12 people from CGI, a nationwide consulting firm with offices in Sacramento, and two veterans, both in their 90s.
Dimitry Buryakov was in line to receive a meal, saying he has not been able to work due to an injury. Buryakov has four children and another on the way, he said.
“The money’s kind of short,” he said. “Payments on the car, payments on the house, plus inflation going up and up, I’m trying to feed my family.”
A man who goes by J. Notty said he was in line to get a turkey for his family. He said they have been struggling for several years.
“It’s been a rough year for the last few years ever since COVID hit,” he said. “But we were having trouble even before that.”
Last year, The Sentinel reported the food closet ran out of meals about four hours after opening up. The ministry had to turn people away by the early afternoon hours, according to the report.
Sunrise Christian Food Ministry is also planning to give away more meals on Friday, Nov. 19, at the same location. The drive-thru distribution is planned for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with no registration needed.
“It’s very encouraging to know that people’s hearts are to help one another,” Peterson said. “When COVID started, we though we’d close up but the hearts of people were to help one another.”
