If you’re planning on donating a turkey this year, you can donate at any of these locations.  

• United Food Bank (East Valley )November 21-23: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Donate at any Fry’s Food Store location by adding your donation amount to your grocery bill. A donation of $2.50 will provide enough food for 17 meals. A donation of $10 will provide enough food for 70 meals.
• Lee Lee International Supermarket is hosting a holiday food drive at all three Arizona locations until Tuesday to benefit two Arizona food banks. Donations from the Chandler location will go to the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix, which is most in need of beans (canned or dried), canned fruit and vegetables, canned soups, stews, chili and pasta, cereal, diapers, juice, peanut butter, rice and tuna (canned or vacuum packed).

St. Mary’s food bank has a few different locations available to donate:

• They will be collecting food donations at 31st and Thomas until Thursday 8am to 5pm at the Thomas and 31st Location, as well as
• St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is collecting cash and turkeys 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Stockyards Restaurant, 5009 E. Washington St., Phoenix. The Stockyards Restaurant, Valley of the Sun United Way, Rock Springs Pies, The Celebrity Theater and the Arizona Centennial Chopper will sponsor the drive.

Don’t have time to drop one off? There are plenty of online options for giving.

• Try Buy-A-Bird online! buyabird.org is an online shopping site where you can buy stuffed animal birds which directly donates to the St. Mary’s Food Bank Thanksgiving Drive
• The Real Gift Foundation’s 12th annual Thanksgiving Dinner Drive is taking place now.They plan to deliver 3,650 pre-cooked Thanksgiving dinners to homeless children (and their families) who attend more than 70 public schools throughout Maricopa County. In order to deliver the dinners, The Real Gift Foundation needs to raise more than $80,000. Just $25 dollars will feed a family of six. To donate, visit www.therealgift.org or call (602) 482-5800

Donate today and give back to your community for the holidays.

It’s that time of year again, when dreams of turkey and starches fill our daydreams and the pressures of dieting float away with the autumn breeze.  The St. Mary’s Food Bank has  guaranteed those turkey dreams for struggling families around the valley for more than four decades.

Last year, St. Mary’s needed six thousand turkeys and that number is only expected to grow. With 16% of the population falling under the poverty line, and turkey donations down this year, and the food bank is worried that for the first time in 45 years, they may not be able to meet their demands.  St. Mary’s is hosting “Super Saturday” Turkey Drive on from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 19^th in hopes of closing the turkey gap. The drive will expand to 16 locations around the Valley and in Flagstaff for what will be “an unprecedented need for the 2011 holiday season,” according to the food bank.

This Thursday is our November Get Your PHX Event at Steele Indian School Dog Park. In addition to your adorable pooch, we ask that you bring 5 dollars to donate to St. Mary’s Food Bank Turkey Drive. With your help, we can give families all over the family a meal to be thankful for.

This is totally informal, but we will get your contribution directly over to St. Mary’s the next day.

To learn more about ways to give, visit the St. Mary’s Food Bank Website