BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Greater Refuge Temple of Christ facing a challenge of disparity in receiving turkeys this year.
Assistant pastor Leonard Marshall showed 7 News reporter Yoselin Person the eight turkeys they have in storage to give to a small number of families in 48 hours.
Marshall says this year the church is facing a huge challenge in not having enough turkeys.
So far he has some boxes of cookies and dozens of cases of water waiting for families.
Pastor Marshall says the Jefferson community continues to be overlooked even after the Tops mass shooting.
His church is just a few blocks down from Tops.
This church has seen an increase in single parents and senior citizens reaching out for help, especially for the holidays.
Bishop Robert Sanders, a senior pastor at Greater Refuge Temple of Christ said "You see the fulfillment that there is a place that will be the need in the time of when there's hardship.”
FeedMore WNY says they were able to do what they could this year to meet the needs of the Greater Refuge Temple of Christ.
“We were able to get more vouchers that we are going to distribute to them tomorrow so that they can continue to distribute those vouchers to families in that area,” says Collin Bishop, chief communications officer at Feedmore WNY.
The supply and demand that the Greater Refuge Temple of Christ is facing is what FeedMore says they’re seeing across Western New York.
“The number of people who are facing food insecurity this year is very large, the number of people that are agencies are helping is going up, we're doing our best to continue to meet those demands,” Bishop says.
As for the church, they’re just crossing their fingers for a miracle to happen in less than 48 hours.
“We really need the help, we're fighting food insecurity and will be fighting it for a long time,” says Marshall. “And we need to feed those people that are hungry we need to feed the people in our community.”
The church is asking anyone to lend a hand as they’re trying to fulfill the needs of hundreds of people in the Fruit Belt community for Thanksgiving.
Greater Refuge Temple of Christ contact number:
716-886-2199
