The Monument Crisis Center in Concord hands out food to needy families in the mornings and then again in the evenings. Tuesday morning the center handed out 164 turkeys thanks to generous folks like those with the De La Salle football team. However, Tuesday evening they are expecting about the same number of families, but they only have 30 turkeys. The center is hoping the community that has rallied to lend a hand will continue to do so.
Clients of the Monument Crisis Center need help with the basics, but Tuesday they received something special, a turkey. It was all thanks to the generosity of strangers.
"We are so happy today. We've had the De La Salle football team, dropped off 50 turkeys this morning. Another young man and his mom brought in 15 turkeys," said Sandra Scherer, the center's executive director.
The center has bought turkeys in the past, but could not afford it this year.
De La Salle senior and football team center, Nick Lahaye, heard about the need for holiday birds and got all the team members to donate one.
"I hope it makes them happy this Thanksgving, this holiday season," said Lahaye.
Concord resident Edi Birsan lives in the neighborhood and brought seven. He says he likes to give when he knows exactly where his donation is going.
"The country can give $30 billion to General Motors, I think we can give a couple hundred bucks to our neighbors," said Birsan.
The center served 1,700 families last month and expects the number to be higher this month. Apparently word is getting out.
Brandon Lawrence wrote a check for $1,000.
"I saw a piece on the news last week and these guys were doing a raffle for Thanksgiving dinners, and I had a good year this year and I figured that people are in need so why not come down and help them out," said Lawrence.
Steve and Tracy Renfro gave $4,400.
"With what's going on in the economy and there's so many people in need, we're fortunate enough to be able to do it and we felt it was important enough to do, so we did it," said Steve Renfro.
There will be another food distribution at the center Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. It will be the last one before Thanskgiving.
If you would like to donate to the Monument Crisis Center, visit their Web site at monumentcrisiscenter.org for more information.