A food pantry got a large donation late Wednesday; Hundreds of turkeys they did not expect to be able to give to families in need.
It was a generous gift, made by a group of Mission Indians after they saw an ABC7 story about the enormous need this year.
Two-by-two, 200 20-pound turkeys arrived just in time for Thanksgiving.
The special delivery came after a representative from the Morongo band of Mission Indians saw an ABC7 story about an Oakland food pantry that held a turkey lottery because they had so few to give away this holiday.
They also presented families with holiday chickens.
"I was in my hotel room and I watched this heart-wrenching story about the people here in Oakland having to give little tiny chickens for Thanksgiving. So, we got a hold of Costco and had them put some turkeys aside. We said get the biggest you've got'," said Dennis miller of the Morongo band of Mission Indians.
So with the help of volunteers from Mother Brown's kitchen in San Francisco, Miller loaded up several trucks with turkeys and delivered them to the food pantry run by Lola Hardy with the Grace Baptist Church.
Miller also presented Hardy with Costco gift cards totaling $3500 dollars, enough to buy 200 more turkeys.
"Not in a million years would I have believed that this would've happened to us. It's just wonderful. I can't describe my appreciation, my joy, my happiness, the whole bit," said Hardy.
These turkeys are fresh, not frozen. So the a're going to give them away almost as quickly as they came in the door.
Michael Gardner was first in line to receive this most unexpected holiday gift.
"When I saw this, I'm kind of like happy right now. My grandson's in the car. I've got to go in there and smile and make him happy and let him know what we've got. We're going to enjoy this," he said.
When asked if he would have a good thanksgiving he replied, "It's going to be great. Fantastic."
