As most American families this week start the long process of shopping, baking and cooking for Thanksgiving, some may start to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of food requiring preparation. When compared to the 12 turkeys and 130 meals Campus Kitchens prepared for its annual Turkeypalooza event, the workload may seem a little lighter.
For the third year, Campus Kitchens held Turkeypalooza, a nationwide Thanksgiving meal event. Campus Kitchens is a leadership development program that focuses on bringing volunteers, on-campus dining services staff and different organizations of colleges and universities together to fight hunger in cities across the United States, according to www.campuskitchens.org.
This is the Marquette branch's second year participating in Turkeypalooza, said Erin Yudchitz, Marquette Campus Kitchens supervisor.
About 60 volunteers worked various shifts Nov. 19 through Nov. 23 cooking, preparing and delivering donated food to five community services in Milwaukee, Yudchitz said. Volunteers included students from the Physical Therapy Student Council, Alpha Chi Omega, residence halls and Campus Kitchens.
"It is a good way to combine stuff you like to do, like cooking, with a good cause," said volunteer Caitlin Schaffner, a College of Communication sophomore.
The project started Friday with Take Your Turkey to Work Day, where volunteers picked up turkeys and funds for turkeys donated by Marquette faculty and staff. Yudchitz said volunteers collected about 80 pounds of food items from various residence halls, which students donated over the past two weeks.
Friday night and Saturday, volunteers were busy baking pies, cooking meals and preparing grocery bags to be delivered Sunday through Tuesday to clients, Yudchitz said. Volunteers prepared the food at Cobeen Hall and recovered food that was not re-usable. The volunteers have had unofficial help from the Marquette dining services staff with preparing the Thanksgiving meals, she said.
Thanksgiving meals and groceries were delivered Sunday to residents at the Young Women's Christian Association transitional housing program. Volunteers served hot Thanksgiving meals Sunday evening and visited with residents at Gwen T. Jackson Senior Apartments in Milwaukee, operated by the YWCA, Yudchitz said.
"Food is the tool that brings everyone together," she said. "It's not just about providing a meal, but providing companionship."
Volunteers delivered more Thanksgiving meals to Family House, a nursing home in Milwaukee, and also visited with residents. Campus Kitchens and volunteers delivered grocery bags Tuesday to 31 families at Heartlove Place, an after-school program for low-income families. Volunteers were expected to drop off groceries and bake pies with residents at Milwaukee Women's Center, Yudchitz said.
"For everyone else this is a special holiday," said Colleen Nelson, senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and fundraising coordinator for Turkeypalooza. "They should receive the same treatment, with a special meal too."