Utah charities in need of food, money donations to give families Thanksgiving meals

SALT LAKE CITY — Just two weeks before Thanksgiving, there's a dire need for food in Utah. Local pantries and the Utah Food Bank are pleading for donations so they can provide Thanksgiving meals to struggling Utah families.

Local pantry shelves may be stocked, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, they won't stay that way.

"A lot of families with children, people that are working and have jobs that are struggling," Pastor Shawn Clay, Salt Lake City Mission executive director, said.

Clay runs the Salt Lake City Mission. Right now, he's short about half of the food he needs to provide 500 boxes of free Thanksgiving meals to families without enough money for food, and the homeless he'll feed for the holiday.

"(We're) reaching out for donations of hams, turkeys, canned cranberries, vegetables, pumpkin pies," Clay said.

That need for donations is statewide.

"Currently in Utah, there are about 413,000 people who are food insecure, meaning they don't know where their next meal is coming from. One in six of those are children," said Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank president and CEO.

Bott said families can't keep up with rising costs.

"Families are trying to balance a budget that isn't stretching as far as it needs to go," Bott said.

To meet that increased demand, the Utah Food Bank and pantries need more donations. Without them, some Utah families may not have a meal this Thanksgiving to be thankful for.

"People rely and depend on these Thanksgiving meals," Clay told KSL-TV.

If you want to help, there are two things you need to know:

1. The Salt Lake City Mission plans to give away those Thanksgiving box meals on Nov. 22 at 11 a.m. at its location on 1151 S. Redwood Road in Salt Lake City. If you want to donate, make sure to get your donations to them before then.
2. If you'd like to donate to the Utah Food Bank, which provides food to pantries like the Salt Lake City Mission, every dollar you give ends up being $7.60 the mission can spend on food.

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