Dunedin Cares' Annual Turkey Drive Underway

DUNEDIN, FL — Dunedin Cares Food Pantry's annual turkey drive for needy families is underway.

Residents and business people are invited to form teams and donate frozen turkeys and other holiday staples between now and Nov. 15 at Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at 1630 Pinehurst Road.

There will be prizes for the team that donated the most pounds of food or dollars by Nov. 15.

To donate online, click here.

Since opening in 2015, Dunedin Cares Food Pantry has come a long way. It all started with one man’s vision with just a few jars of peanut butter in a one-room set up in the back of a church hall to a freestanding building today. The pantry service provides groceries to anyone in need.

Pinellas County has always had a high rate of food insecurity – in some towns as high as 40 percent – but the increase at the pantry rose dramatically when the pandemic hit.

“Our parking lot became commonplace to see lines of cars in the summer heat, and some days volunteers served 100 families or more," Joe Mackin, president of Dunedin Cares, said. “On the Thursday before Thanksgiving in 2020, we served 170 families while their cars lined up on the street. Straight through 2020, and well past the holidays, our wonderful volunteers stepped up with creative ideas in adopting a drive-through curbside service.”

2021 has not yet shown much relief. As families face summer without their needed school-supplied meals, rent relief and stimulus checks have run out. As a result, pantry numbers have risen an additional 40 percent over last year.

Annual fundraisers like the Peanut Butter & Jelly Challenge and the Holiday Turkey & Toy Drive are instrumental in the pantry’s ability to stay ahead of the need.

“Without the support of our local schools, churches, civic groups, corporations, and many, many, individuals, we would not have been able to sustain,” said Mackin.

Get the Annual Turkey Drive Wish List and Information