Centralia Salvation Army Receives Influx of Thanksgiving Turkeys

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The Salvation Army plans to fill 300 Thanksgiving boxes for people this holiday, and is well on its way with the donations it has received so far.

“Centralia is a great community of people that really want to work together,” said Lieutenant Gin Pack, who recently became the new leader of the Salvation Army in Centralia with her husband Steven Pack.

The Salvation Army received $2,500 from the Centralia Rotary Club, $1,100 from the Centralia Lions Club and, most recently, 50 turkeys from American Behavioral Health Systems Centralia/Chehalis. 

“They brought a crew of people to help unload them and put them in our freezer for us,” said Steven Pack, about ABHS.

The Salvation Army will use the monetary donations to purchase turkeys from Fuller’s Shop’n Kart.

“We’re looking to fill 300 food boxes that will be distributed,” Gin Pack said. “... We’re working with Fuller’s Shop’n Kart (and) they have been gracious enough to give us a very good deal on it to help meet that need.”

The Salvation Army is still signing people up for the Thanksgiving food boxes, and will continue to do so until its list is full. To sign up, people must bring in some form of identification. For minors, this can be something like a medical card or vaccination records.

Gin and Steven Pack are already preparing to distribute the 300 boxes.

“We have an advisory board that is coming in next week to help build the boxes and they will be just for each individual family,” Gin Pack said. “Then the families receive a phone call, letting them know what the distribution day and time looks like. Then they can just come and get their food.”

Gin and Steven Pack noted that every community faces different challenges. In Lewis County, they have found the best way to reach community members is to distribute food boxes. The two have spoken with local pastors and organizations, as well as the Salvation Army’s advisory board to feel out what the local needs are.



“They have a lot more time and experience in the community,” Steven Pack said. “Between those two resources, we get a good feel for what the need is.”

Gin Pack noted that Salvation Army works with other local organizations to provide community lunches as well.

“We do community lunch so that there is a warm place for people to come in,” Gin Pack said. “So, Wednesday through Friday, we open up our building. We serve community lunch here — it’s a hot lunch. They can come in and watch TV, get warm, charge their cellphones. We’ve seen even an increased need in supplemental food or emergency food boxes, which is where our social services comes in.”

The Thanksgiving boxes will include a turkey, fresh potatoes, stuffing, canned vegetables and a can of cranberry sauce. The number of people each box feeds will depend on the size of the family.

“We have purchased a sliding scale of turkeys, so that some of the larger families will have more,” Gin Pack said. “If it’s a very large family, then we will be giving them two boxes.”

The Salvation Army has already invited clients who came in for emergency food to sign up for the distribution. The boxes can go to individuals or families.

“We’re pretty nondiscriminatory,” Steven Pack said. “If you say you have a need, we will try and meet it.”

However, Gin Pack noted there is a limited number of boxes.

“I wish we had an unlimited number to distribute to anyone who feels like they have a need,” Gin Pack said. “We do have a limit, just because we’re bound by financial constraints. But we do try to make it really easy to get through and not feel so systematic — we’re not trying to shuffle people along. So if they don’t have proof of income or stuff like that, we try to work with them to find a solution.”