Headed by Apopka commissioners Alexander H. Smith and Nadia Anderson, local organizations came together Tuesday to distribute enough turkeys to feed 500 families as well as other foods.

Vehicles picked up the food at the Thanksgiving turkey drive at the Billie Dean Community Center. Some people even walked to the drive to pick up bags of turkeys and sides such as candied yam, stuffing, rice, fresh produce, macaroni and cheese and desserts.

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Sponsors included Care Plus Health Plans, Humana, the Leach Firm and Lake Apopka Natural Gas District. Volunteers from New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Apopka – where Smith is the pastor – assisted in sorting and distributing food. 

The federal government shutdown, which lasted from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, caused people to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, has heightened further need in the community. Some people haven’t gotten their benefits back yet, according to Smith. 

“The need has grown,” Smith said. “So we’re just trying to meet the needs of the community to make sure that nobody goes hungry during this Thanksgiving season.”

For the last three years, Smith had organized a food drive with Lake Apopka Natural Gas District and Leach Law Firm. Anderson organized a separate Thanksgiving food drive last year. 

“Last year we ran out of turkeys, because we only had 150,” Smith said. “By combining our efforts, we were able to provide more turkey and make a bigger impact.”

The drive would welcome new partners who seek to help make a larger community impact, Smith said. 

“We hope that we can always increase as a need is supplied, we will try to meet the needs of the community,” he said. 

Besides the yearly drive, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church operates a food pantry from 10 a.m. to noon on the first, second and third Monday of the month on its premise.

“We do a pantry three times a month, and then anytime in between we get some extra food, we feed,” Othellus Swift, a food drive volunteer and 10-year church member, said. “We try to feed every chance we get. It’s going to be at least three times [per month], though.” 

Hernando McQueen, an Apopka resident, received a turkey and enough food for at least 10 people. He said he hasn’t visited other food drives or pantries and learned about the church’s Tuesday food drive from a friend who called him. 

“I feel very grateful,” McQueen said.