All Faiths Food Bank works to distribute record number of turkeys

By Ian Swaby
| 10:56 a.m. November 23, 2025

Geoff Levin, Marcy Klein, Steven Goodman and Patricia Courtois volunteer at the Van Wezel.

Sarasota
Neighbors

As the line of vehicles formed outside Ed Smith Stadium on Nov. 19, it marked an exceptionally large turnout for the annual turkey distribution there, said All Faiths Food Bank's president and CEO Nelle Miller.

The large-scale distribution, a collaboration between All Faiths Food Bank and the Baltimore Orioles, involved about 1,000 turkeys, offered with potatoes and sides.

"We have a few left, but not many," Miller said as the service wrapped up that night.

That number was part of a record number of turkeys, 14,500, that the food bank ordered for distribution before Thanksgiving this year, through the funds raised from its annual ThankFULL campaign. The food bank also expects to distribute 4.1 million holiday meals through the end of this year.

Since the federal cuts to food and health assistance during the government shutdown, impacts to food security had been widespread in the community, Miller told the Observer during the Bowls of Hope fundraiser on Nov. 9.

Another large-scale distribution took place in the parking lot of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Nov. 22, involving what Miller said on Nov. 19 was "probably about 800" turkeys.

By mid-morning that day, the total amount of turkeys distributed was nearing 14,000, said All Faiths Food Bank staff.

"I think we all feel that it's really important to give people the dignity and respect during the holidays, when everybody else is sitting around the table eating festive meals, and they're eating whatever they've been able to buy or receive from the food bank on a regular basis," Miller said. "And this makes it special, and I think everybody in the community wants to make sure that everybody has that opportunity."

The Oriole Bird hitches a ride atop the vehicle of Marisa Enis and Kayla McCarty.

Phil Bradley and Brian Parreira await the next cars.

Brian Parreira helps The Oriole Bird load potatoes.

Sarah Baer and Carl Reynolds of Carl Reynolds Law work together to load boxes.

Scott Stansbury and Linda Jones load supplies into a trunk.

Debi Siskovic and Logan Bell prepare to load the next car.

Olga Hanlon helps load an attendee's truck.

Nelle Miller, president and chief executive officer of All Faiths Food Bank, helps load an attendee's truck.

Potatoes are stacked, ready for distribution.

Aaron Walters and David Cohen help load the vehicles.

author

Ian Swaby

Ian Swaby is the Sarasota neighbors writer for the Observer. Ian is a Florida State University graduate of Editing, Writing, and Media and previously worked in the publishing industry in the Cayman Islands.