High Food Prices impacting annual Thanksgiving Tradition

INDIANAPOLIS — Janet Easley and Bobbie Jones meet a lot to talk turkey.

The co-organizers of the Turner Thanksgiving event at the Watkins Family Center in Indianapolis are struggling to keep up with the price of frozen turkeys. Frozen turkeys they bought for $15 to $20 in 2021 have doubled in price.

"It's looking rough. We're going store to store. Some stores have a two-turkey limit, so we're having to send different people into them due to the limit," Easley said.

"We're hoping and praying that it came through for us," co-organizer Bobbie Jones added.

Since COVID in 2020, Easley and Jones have passed out about 300 frozen turkeys every year at the Watkins Family Center on the near north side of Indianapolis through a drive-thru style event.

But this time due to inflation, people could get ham or chicken.

"Going to the store is outrageous. We going to give something," Easley said.

Before COVID, the Turner Thanksgiving Tradition at Watkins involved hundreds of people preparing more than 7,000 meals delivered by volunteers or distributed by local churches.

Co-organizers are hoping that in 2023 they will be able to bring back all the volunteers for the first time since the pandemic and Easley is hoping to power up her oven to make her famously delicious sweet potato pies.

"We're getting older and older every year we will continue doing it as long as we can do it. People out here who are in need and we need to help them," Easley shared.

People seeking to make a donation to the cause can call 317-709-0984 or 317-361-5149.