By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

November 15, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – It’s not too late to get into the spirit of giving.

Della Lamb Community Services (500 Woodland) will host it’s 24th annual Operation Thanksgiving on November 22, but in an email released on Tuesday, November 15, the organization revealed that it is facing “critical shortages” of grocery items ahead of the event.

Each year, Della Lamb provides all of the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner to roughly 1,700 low-income families in the community. Items placed in grocery bags for families include a frozen turkey, instant mashed potatoes, a stuffing package, gravy mix, cans of corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, chocolate cake and frosting mixes, pie crust, a can of apple or cherry filling, a dozen eggs, and margarine.

Don Pfannenstiel, Integrated Marketing and Communications Principal for Della Lamb, said Tuesday that there is one item of particular need as the organization prepares for its annual Thanksgiving event.

“What they really need is frozen turkeys, preferably about 10 pounds,” said Pfannenstiel. “Any of those food products – they’ll open their arms to anything. But turkeys are the biggest need.”

In addition to providing holiday meals, Della Lamb also offers early childhood education, youth services, emergency assistance, transportation, adult education classes, and more. The organization has also re-settled roughly 200 refugees into the Kansas City area in 2016, many of whom are expected to be recipients of Operation Thanksgiving meals.

“They had a record number of re-settlements in August and September, which was part of the Obama movement to settle 10,000 refugees by October,” said Pfannenstiel of the organization. “Della Lamb has re-settled more refugees in Kansas City this year than ever before.”

Della Lamb is still accepting registrants for the annual event, as well. Interested families can pre-qualify for Operation Thanksgiving by calling the Della Lamb office at (816) 842-8040 or by stopping into the main office in person at 500 Woodland in the Historic Northeast.

Pfannenstiel added that Della Lamb is also accepting tax-deductible cash contributions in addition to food donations. According to Della Lamb, $35 would provide one family with all items needed to prepare their own Thanksgiving meal. Meanwhile, a $500 tax-deductible contribution could fund the purchase of 55 frozen turkeys for area families.

“These are all needy, low-income families who look forward to this,” said Pfannenstiel. “They start lining up at 5:00 in the morning in order to be a recipient.”

To learn more about the services that Della Lamb offers, visit dellalamb.org. To make a donation, visit Della Lamb’s Operation Thanksgiving landing page.